Taking Eden
by Aragem
Summary: FF10 & TF crossover. Yuna's pilgrimage is no longer about defeating Sin. She must also protect Spira from the G1 Decepticons.
1. Heaven and Hell

Okay, how this got started. Believe it or not, I was playing Kingdom Hearts 2 and I was really excited watching the summons. One day, while riding the bus to work, I started thinking about Final Fantasy 7's Knights of the Round, which is the MOST POWERFUL SUMMONS OF ALL FINAL FANTASY GAMES. Then my mind switched over to Decepticons (I'm a Decepticon lover, okay), and then I thought, it would kick ass to have a summons which consisted of the Decepticons performing each of their popular attacks and end off with Megatron transforming into his alt-mode and dealing loads of damage to top it off. 

I threw this idea at a friend who worked ata game store. I used Yuna as an example, she's my fave FF character and summoner anyway. He started laughing and saying how the Decepticons would not like that. Wetalkedabout how she would get the summons and how she could get the Decepticons to help her. It was decided that she would have somethingthat they wanted.

I brained storm for weeks and a story grew out of my brain and I want to thank all the people wholistened to my idea and encouraged me and also threw ideas my way.

Thanks guys.

Okay, now I want to make promises to the readers.

Iwill try my utmost not to have our fave TFand FF characters be out of character. I knowthat it's no fun to readfics with the characters not acting like themselves. Decepticons will be a bunch of badasses. Megatron will scheme and plot, Starscream will plot against Megatron and whine, Yuna will be the selfless summoner we love, and Optimus Prime will be Optimus Prime.

I'm putting this in the FF 10 sections because since the story willhave Yuna as the main character,it seems right that itshould be in the FF 10 list.

Tidus is here in the story. I know Yuna and he falls in love and I'm not changing that. But I don't think it was love at first sight, in fact I believe that Yuna tried to avoid it, but couldn't resist the zest for life that Tidus holds.

Just saying when you read this.

* * *

She stared at her reflection in the full length mirror staring at her new wardrobe. There were mirrors in Besaid, but none as large as this. Something as expensive on the Island of Besaid could only be found within the Temple of Yevon of which Besaid village was built around.

They were comfortable and were durable despite their looks. The clothes were free flowing allowing her to perform any necessary sendings she may need to perform on her possible pilgrimage. She made a few final adjustments to her criss-cross top before slipping her mother's old necklace over her head. It was the last gift her mother had given her before her doomed trip to her homeland.

Yuna inhaled deeply and slowly released it slowly through her mouth. She was ready. She felt it in her heart that she was ready. Her teacher told her she was ready, the temple decided she was ready, but it was still all up to the Fayth in the end.

She closed her eyes and murmured a silent prayer to Yevon, asking him to accept her as a Summoner, to allow her to bring the Calm to the people as had her father before her. She ended the prayer with a small amen.

She wouldn't become an official Summoner staying in this room forever. She gathered her staff which had been leaning against the wall next to the mirror. Lulu would be waiting outside for her. She and Khimari would be the ones escorting her through the trails that tested each Summoner who came to attain the Aeon within. Wakka claimed that he wanted to get some practice time with the team before they departed for the pilgrimage.

The smell of the ocean greeted her as the warm sun touched her face. She squinted her eyes and raised a hand to shield them from the beaming sun. She saw that Lulu and Khimari were not the only ones waiting.

Standing at the stone steps of the temple were the children of Besaid along with their teacher, Warsha. The old woman was in her sixties, but was still going strong despite having lost her husband and two children to Sin long ago. Her skin was very brown from the sun and her violet robe hung off her bony frame. She smiled warmly at Yuna and the Summoner-in-training remembered how this woman had welcomed her to Besaid ten years ago when Khimari first brought her to the island.

Lulu waited patiently near the far hut that she had once shared with Yuna before Yuna moved into the Temple for extensive training when she had become older. Her arms were crossed beneath her breasts and one would have thought she was angry, but Yuna could see the warm look in her eyes and the gentle smile touching her dark lips.

Yuna approached the gathered group of children and Warsha raised a withered hand in greeting, "Yuna, the children have made something for you."

Yuna raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Really? What is it?"

The children whispered amognstand encouraged the youngest and smallest of them forward. Little Kyou, barely four years old, clutched something tightly to his small chest, his head tilted forward as if looking at his dirty bare feet. He said something so softly that it was impossibly to decipher anything he had spoken.

Yuna lowered herself to the freshly swept stone, and gave Kyou an encouraging smile. "I'm sorry, Kyou, I didn't hear you."

Kyou looked up with chocolate colored eyes and held out both hands. "Dis is for yoo, Yoona."

In his small hands was long earring crafted out of blue wooden beads and blue silken strands which were no doubt from their parents carpet materials. Amongst the beads was specially crafted yellow and purple bead and the earring ended with a tuft of blue silken strands.

"We woulda made two, but we ran out of beads." An older child piped from the front behind Kyou.

"This is beautiful.' Yuna said accepting it from Kyou. She brushed her hair away from her right ear and removed her gold ball earring and slipped this new one in. The silky strands rested on her shoulder, obviously crafted too long, but no less precious. "I'll wear it with me when I go to pray. And if I become a Summoner, I'll wear it on my pilgrimage."

Kyou eyes brighten. "Really?" He smiled showing off small baby teeth.

Yuna set her staff aside on the stone and pulled Kyou into a hug. His small body was swallowed by her long hanging sleeves. The other children came forward and Yuna found herself surrounded by thin arms, smells of dirt, and sticky fingers. But most of all adoration and love. She felt something touch the back of her throat and she swallowed it back. No, she would not cry, not in front of these children.

Warsha's voice broke through, rescuing her. "Alright, children, you're going to dirty up Yuna's new clothes. We have classes and Yuna must go into the temple to pray."

The children released Yuna with 'awws' and moans. Kyou clung to her, his eyes looking into hers. "Will you play with us later?"

Yuna hugged him and said, "I promise, Kyou. I promise I'll play with you after I become a Summoner."

Kyou finally released her and after some shooing from Warsha, the children scrambled away to the small hut which was used as a school house. The people could have built a better school, but due to the ever present threat of Sin coming, not much effort is put into buildings which could be torn apart any day.

Yuna collected her staff and stood straight. Warsha stepped forward and placed both hands on the Apprentice Summoner's shoulders. "Yuna, I remember the day you came to Besaid village as if it was yesterday."

Yuna nodded. "You were . . . one of the first ones to welcome me, Warsha."

Unspoken words were not said between the old teacher and old student. Instead, Warsha hugged Yuna tightly to her and Yuna embraced her teacher and heard the words that need not be said.

"I will pray for you, Yuna." Warsha whispered. "I will pray for your success and. . .your well being."

I hope you will succeed, yet I hope you don't. I want you to become the pride of Besaid village and bring the Calm, but I want you to live. They released each other and Yuna could have sworn she saw wetness in her old teacher's eyes.

"I better go before the children set the hut on fire." Warsha said quickly turning toward the hut. "May you have the Blessing of Yevon, Yuna."

Yuna bowed to her old teacher's retreating back and blinked back her own tears. She pretended to shield her eyes from the sun as she wiped her eyes as Lulu approached. Despite knowing how futile it is from her elder 'sister'.

The black mage stopped a few paces behind her and said softly, "Yuna. . ."  
"I'm . . . alright." Yuna said quickly.

"It's not too late, Yuna," Lulu said. "You can still change your mind."

She shook her head, her new blue earring swinging lightly against her cheek. "I'm ready to go."

* * *

In a dimensions across from Besaid Island, in the middle of a desert where the view waved from rising heat from the sand, the Decepticons were busy.

The Constructicons were building yet another space-bridge whilst being 'supervised' by none other than Air Commander Starscream. They were more than certain that Megatron gave him the job to keep him out of trouble by having him cause trouble for someone else.

"Hurry it up!" Starscream shrilled jabbing a blue finger at the half finished construction. He was standing far enough from the construction area to not be in the way, but not too far that he can't supervise or shout orders. "There's a storm coming and I don't want water in my gears!"

"Oh, we would just hate for Commander Starscream to get a little bit of water in his precious squeaking gears." Longhaul muttered as he carried materials in his alt-mode to be carefully unloaded by Hook.

"Who said that?" Starscream demanded waving his null-gun in the air. "I said who said that?"

Hook hefted an armful of metal rods from the back of Longhaul. "I don't think Megatron is going to want you to shoot one of us. It would slow production of the space-bridge."

Starscream heard Hook's words, but he also heard the underlining message beneath them. It was a known fact while dealing with gesalt groups, that if you mess with one member, you have to deal with the whole group, which is very unwise being that they could merge to form a very powerful adversary.

"Hurry up with construction, then." Starscream growled.

* * *

This was it. She stood before the doors to the Chamber of the Fayth. They made it through the trails easily being that Lulu had twice before went through them during her career as a guardian. This would be her third time being a guardian and it could be her last time if Yuna had anything to do with it.

The air inside the trails felt very cool, but despite the temple's age the air was fresh and held no smell of dust or age. Everything looked cleaned, as if someone had come down regularly to clean. However, this couldn't be the case for it forbidden for none other than summoners and their guardians to enter the trails.

She stared at the door of the Chamber of the Fayth. She heard stories and lessons about the Fayth, but nothing could prepare for the giddying excitement and fear that associated with the prospect of meeting a Fayth in real person.

"Nervous?" Lulu said from behind her.

She turned to face her adopted sister and her lifelong guardian and smiled. "No, I'm . . .confident that I can do this."

Lulu stepped forward, her hair beads chimed softly and she touched Yuna's cheek gently in loving sisterly way. "You'll do fine. Go in there and do your best."

Yuna smiled, she knew what it had cost Lulu to encourage her. "Thank you, Lulu, and thank you Khimari."

The Ronso standing near the exit with his arms corssed over his broad chest as a dutiful bodyguard barely bobbed his head in acknowledgement of her gratitude. Lulu lowered her hand and stepped back.

Yuna took a deep breath and turned to face the steps that led up to the chamber. Each step upward made the ball of weight in her stomach tightening. This morning, she had been so certain, but now she wasn't so sure. Maybe she should study and train more and do this again next week.

NO! She closed her hand so tightly her nails bit into her palm. No, she would not back down now. It doesn't matter whether she trained more or not, the Fayth decided if she was worthy or not. To put this off, would put off her possible pilgrimage and bringing the Calm. More people would suffer and die if she put this off.

She approached the doors and they opened. The fin slid upward and the transparent fans folded back. She sent a small prayer to her father, Braska, and entered the Chamber of the Fayth.

* * *

Skywarp and Thundercracker did surveillance miles away from the space-bridge in construction. Their alt-modes So far, there had been sign of intruders or Autobots coming to destroy yet another space-bridge. For some reason, their strategy is to destroy any space-bridge they build in order to exhaust their energy and prevent them from sending any back to Cybertron. Autobots were trying to choke the energy from them.

It made being around Megatron very unpleasant. He was prone to yelling at his subordinates, demanding results, and cursing the Autobots and mostly Optimus Prime. It hadn't been a very good month for the Decepticons with Megatron's mood and the strict rationing of energon had everyone of edge.

And guess who wasn't making it any easier, Starscream. His constant complaining and claiming that that if he was in command that there wouldn't be energon shortage and that they would have already won the war and be on Cybertron. He wasn't helping to make Megatron any nicer. Thundercracker couldn't understand how that Seeker is still functioning as many times Megatron had slammed him against the walls.

His radio chimed and Megatron's voice came in. "Megatron here. Report."

"So far no sign of any outsiders." Thundercracker replied as he ascended upwards through a patch of clouds. Dew drops of moisture clung to his hull, but these were wiped off when he rolled in midair.

"Keep a sharp look out." Megatron ordered. "Laserbeak sighted a small unit of Autobots fifty Earth miles from your location. I'm coming with reinforcements. Megatron out."

"Slag." Thundercracker muttered. Today was not looking up at all. Bad enough they could be facing another Autobot raid and the possibility of them destroying yet another space-bridge, but now he had to listen to Starscream glitch about how Megatron gave Thundercracker the news and not directly to him.

* * *

Yuna did as she was taught for so many years. She knelt before the statue of the Fayth. Then she mentally touched the part of her mind that made her a possible summoner, opened it up, and sent it to the Fayth.

_Please, accept me as your summoner. Please, help me to bring the Calm. People are dying, children go to bed in fear of never waking up again. Let me bring them hope by making me a summoner. Help me to ease their pain, take away their suffering, and bring them peace and life._

* * *

Starscream did indeed have something to say about Megatron giving him the message instead of him.

"I'm the one in charge here! Not you! He doesn't think I can't handle a little Autobot attack!"

Almost two hours later, Megatron arrived with Soundwave and, surprisingly, Insecticons. Both the Seekers and the Constructicons groaned silently at the smirking sight of the three mercenaries. Anytime the Insecticons were involved, it made Megatron a bit angrier than he was when he hired them. However, this just proved that Megatron was getting shorthanded, what with the other Decepticons protecting the space-bridges that the Autobots hadn't found.

"Report, Starscream." Megatron demanded as he landed lightly on the sand.

"There has been no sign of the Autobots, 'Mighty Leader'." Starscream's voice dripped with apparent sarcasm.

"The Autobots have moved off to seventy miles away, but I'm not taking chances."

Then Megatron handed out orders while the dark clouds in the horizon crept closer.

* * *

Beads of sweat gathered on Yuna's forehead, some of then rolled over her temples and her closed lids. She concentrated, sending her power outward and begged the Fayth to accept her. She didn't know how long she had been there kneeling on the hard floor, but she couldn't stop now. She didn't dare to shift her legs into a more comfortable position, despite her knees aching from the hard stone floor.

_Please, accept me. Don't turn me away. I must become a summoner, I will not fail._

* * *

"Megatron, the storm is too fierce!" Starscream cried over the cracks of thunder and the lashing lightning.

Megatron scowled at his Air Commander. "Nonesense, we can use the storm as cover."

"We can't stay out here!" Starscream snapped.

"Neither can the Autobots."

The space-bridge was almost finished. Despite the harsh weather, the Constructicons had finished the frame work and siding. Now all that remained was installing the computer and circuits which Soundwave and Hook were currently setting up.

It wouldn't be long before they would do a test run of the space-bridge.

* * *

Miracles and phenomenon happen and no one can explain why. Perhaps there is a delicate threads between the dimensions that is easily broken when there is great forces on either side at work. Perhaps it is a will of a greater and benevolent force at work for purposes greater than our own.

Or perhaps, the Gods get bored and want to see what would happen when you mix this with that.

_

* * *

Please, take me unto you and make me a summoner to end the Spira's pain. **PLEASE!**_

Yuna bared it all. Her desire of ending Spira's pain and bring the planet hope. Her father's guidance and the love she held for her family, Lulu, Wakka, and Khimari, and for the family she hasn't seen in so long, Cid and Rikku.

**_PLEASE!_**

She sent out the part of her that made her a summoner forward into the dimension space that would allow her to call aeons.

* * *

"Begin the first run." Megatron commanded from his post near the runway into the space bridge.

The air was filled with booming thunder and the dull echoing pops as hard rain hit their chassis. There was a hum as Soundwave started up the large machine. The transport car started down the runway where, if the machine worked, will end up within Shockwave's command center.

The doors slid open to emit the vessel and shut behind it. The wind changed direction as the humming grew louder and the space-bridge began to cross dimensional transports by opening the sky.

However, at that moment, a bolt of lightning decided to strike at that moment and Yuna had sent out her plea.

please

BOOM!

"Awww SLAG!"

Megatron would never be able to explain what had happen. He remembered that the opening in the sky blurred and then something burst through. It could have been glimmering substance or it could have been simply lightning. It spread out from the space-bridge and touched them all.

It happened so fast, it was like a giant hand had swept across the ground bathing them in energy and heat. He remembered mostly the energy behind it.

When it was over, the space-bridge had stopped function and everyone was picking themselves off the ground.

* * *

Yuna couldn't remember much of what happened either. One second she was praying, sending out her plea, and then the next intense pain was spreading like a poisonous flower inside her head. She collapsed onto her side from her kneeling position and remained unconscious for most of the day.

During this time, a new visitor to Besaid Island had arrived.

* * *

"I told you we should have abandoned operations." Starscream jabbed at Megatron in the repair bay of the Decepticons underwater base. "We almost got scrapped because of your careless . . ."

"Starscream, shut up." Megatron hissed from the table where Soundwave was inspecting him for any unknown changes or damages. Soundwave stepped back and put aside the scanner he had been using. "Well, anything?"

"Negative." Soundwave replied. "All is working as it should."

"No damages were done."

"The space-bridge isn't working." Starscream refused to give up discrediting him.

"The computer is blown. It can be replace easier than the whole blasted thing." Megatron snapped getting off the table. "Tomorrow we finish the project, so get out of my sight."

* * *

Yuna opened her eyes and groaned. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, her legs curled to the side. She brushed her hand over her forehead. She was exhausted, and felt so drained of energy like something had sucked it from her.

She brushed her hair from her face and froze when she felt _it_.

Her trainer had told her that she would know when she was accepted, she would know when an aeon had accept her as its summoner. It was there, in the back of her mind, not as a weight, but as a presence, so faint that she had to look to find it.

Her joy would have bloomed inside her chest, but she realized something. This summons was not from this Fayth.

She blinked her eyes and sat on the floor stunned. That was impossible. There was no other Fayth than the one in this chamber and it was unheard of that a summoner should get two summons from a single Fayth. It was impossible. Yet, she had one that was not the Fayth inside the chamber with her.

She chewed her bottom lip unsure of what to do. She had officially became a summoner, she had attained a summons, but not with the aeon she had set out to attain. Should she try again to attain the aeon from this Fayth?

Praying to the Fayth took more energy than she had led on to believe. She was already exhausted even from the nap she had taken. And she needed to get back to Lulu and Khimari, they were surely worried out of their minds about her. She didn't need to know the time to know that she had been out for a while. They couldn't even come in here to check on her for that it was strictly forbidden for none other than the summoners can enter the Chamber of the Fayth.

However, she had made a commitment to defeating Sin and only the most powerful summoner can hope to attain all the aeons and make it to Zanarkand and then hope to attain the Final Summoning. There was no halfway of doing this.

She rubbed her face and then pushed herself into her kneeling position and prayed to Valefor.

* * *

As Megatron predicted, the space-bridge was up and running despite the mysterious disaster from yesterday. As another plus, it seemed that some of the Autobots had taken electrical damage from the same storm, less of them to search for their space-bridges.

This made Megatron get a lighter mood and he smiled for the first time in weeks as the space-bridge had passed the test run and was considered functional.

The down side was that the Insecticons expected to be paid their promised energon and had argued when he gave them half the energon he promised.

"What do you mean you want the full pay? We didn't receive any shots from the Autobots!"

"You said three energon cubes each, each!" Sharpnel pointed a purple claw at him.

"That is if we get into a firefight with the Autobots! They didn't show up at all!"

"We got zapped by that light! We demand compensation, sation."

"No one sustained any damage from that light. It was atmospheric phenomenon that happens so often on this planet. Now take your cubes and get out of my sight before I decide to pay you nothing."

Later found the Insections in their forest hive in Canada still angry about the rip off. The hive was mostly burrowed holes into a rock face near a cropping of trees. It was far out that not many humans came by to complain about the chewed up trees and bring the Autobots in to chase them out.

Bombshell placed the energon cubes within a small locker that had looted/salvaged from one of Megatron's schemes gone wrong and turned to his comrades, "I don't see why we keep dealing with that scrap heap Megatron."

Sharpnel was in his insect mode and was chew on a rather large limb. "Because it would be nice to have some energon in storage incase something was to go wrong, wrong."

Kickback was reclining against a large outcropping of rock on the far wall and said, "We may have to end up using it again if the Autobots chase us out of this hive."

Though the Insecticons refuse to say this out loud and would rather deactivate than let the Decepticons know this, but they were having some hard times too. Just as the Autobots had cracked down on Decepeticons building their space-bridges, they had tightened on the Insecticons as well. Five times in last five months, the Insecticons had been chased out of their hives and any forest they tried to set up.

Of course, being able to eat and derive energy like organic made their resource of energy almost limitless, it still cost them energy to fight and set up a new base for them. Their only source of energon, which recharged them, better than eating a forest, came through the Decepticons and Megatron was above all stingy with what energon he had collected.

"You know what Megatron is?" Kickback said with a smirk on his lip components. "I heard a human phrase for someone like him."

"What is it?"  
"A cheap-ass bitch."

* * *

Yuna couldn't help but like Tidus instantly when she saw him. She didn't get a chance to speak with him, during all the islanders congratulating her. Hugs and kisses went around as people celebrated the birth of a summoner and Yuna's success. There had been tears of sorrow behind the tears of joy.

It was perhaps Tidus's face that held the true joy in the celebration. He had a spikey mane of gold hair along with a strange armor like outfit. However, he looked nothing like a warrior, in fact he was the most boyish of any boy she had ever knew. Most of the time he had some sort of smile on his face and he was always talking asking questions. It was such a shame that he had been infected by sin's toxin and couldn't remember much.

For some reason, when she saw him, she thought of Sir Jecht, her father's Guardian. He had almost the carefree attitude and he wore strange clothes . . .and he showed up out of nowhere too. . .not to mention that he loved blitz ball too. The more she thought about the more it made sense. Jecht even told her that he had a son around her age ten years ago and here was Tidus around her age too.

There were too many consequences to ignore the possibility. However, she was unable to speak with Tidus being surrounded by islanders after she gave her demonstration by summoning Valefor.

When she finally had some time to herself inside one of the temple's rooms, she said the four words she had long to truthfully say. "I am a Summoner."

"Yuna, did you say something?" Lulu asked from behind her.

"Oh. . .nothing. I'm just excited is all." Yuna replied turning around to face her friend.

Lulu nodded her head and said, "Tomorrow, the S. S, Lika will come. Before noon, if you want to spend some time in the forest alone. . .everyone would understand."

Yuna had a thought and said, "How long before the feast tonight?"

Lulu crossed her arms and shook her head, "When it gets dark enough for those 'boys' to set something on fire."

Yuna chuckled and said, "Well, I'll be back before dark."

"No, Yuna." Lulu touched her arm and stroked her hair like she always did since they were children. "You take as much time as you want. You aren't obligated to be here for the celebration on time. Alright?"

"Okay." Yuna nodded her head.

They hugged. Yuna slipped her arms around Lulu's waist and accepted her into her arms. They held each other for almost a minute before they released each. Words that didn't need to be spoken weren't.

"I'll be back before dark." Yuna said softly.

Yuna began to felt the sadness of knowing that this would be the last time she would ever talk through this forest. She walked through the trees by heart. She had played here with Wakka, Lulu, and Chappu under the supervision of either Warsha or Khimari.

She came to a small clearing and decided this was the place to see what kind of aeon she had received from within the Chamber of the Fayth. She had been too guilty of making everyone worry about her due to her delay.

She was very curious and wanted to see how powerful it was. Secondly, it was nice to have a secret to herself.

She closed her eyes and reached out for the small bit of her mind that was the aeon.

* * *

The Decepeticons never saw it coming. They would never have imagine that anything like this would have happened.

The Seekers were in the rec room, Megatron and Soundwave was in the command room planning the next space-bridge or energy raid, the Constructicons were hanging out in the quarters that they shared, and the Insecticons were at their hive getting ready to eat their sixth meal of the day when they felt something pulling them.

"Great Cybertron, what is going on?" Thundercracker yelped as blinding light surrounded the Seekers.

"Soundwave, give me analysis, NOW!"

"Unable to comply, Megatron."

"Whoa, Scrapper, you're blue."

"Bonecrusher, you're red."

"WEEEEEEEEEE!" The Insecticons squealed while all the affected Decepeticons

* * *

The summons was so great, it almost hurt her. The pressure inside her mind expand outward to the point of a migraine. Then her summons took form and the pressure increase.

The aeon was HUGE, no, aeons, there was more than one. She stepped back out of the way of the giants.

Megatron's optics made out that he was no longer in the steel and gray command chamber, but amongst green and organic forest. His receptors could made out the faint hum of a nearby ocean and the scent of salt in the air.

"Where are we? Why are we here? Where's the base?" Starscream panicked.

"Food!" The Insecticons latched themselves onto the nearest trees and commenced eating.

Before Megatron could tell Starscream to shut up, something sparked his attention on his radar. Energy. Lots of it. All around them. And very strong energy at that.

And before he could tell Soundwave to run a scan, he caught sight of Yuna standing nearby looking almost ethereal against the green grass in her white and blue clothes.


	2. The Saint and the Devils

Next chapter up.

What liked about Yuna in FF10 was how she matured. She went from being a girl that followed the path set out before by others to being a woman that forged her own path. Yuna was so trusting of Seymour Guado when he is first encounted before Operation Mi'Hen. He was a Maester, surely he wouldn't be up to no good.

That's sort of attitude I think Yuna would have toward Megatron since she believes him to be her aeon.

* * *

Megatron turned to the small human and regarded her with flaming red optics. He expected fear, a cry for help, or for her to run away. None of these happen. In fact, to his surprise the flesh creature actually performed a bow of some sort. She lifted her hands and gracefully formed an invisible ball with her hands and bowed deeply and submissively to him. The action won this human a 0.001 point with him.

"Hello, my name is Yuna." The human said and raised her upper body. She raised a pair of optics which was strangely different colors. One was green while the other was blue.

"How did we get here?" Starscream shrilled behind him still panicking.

The human blinked her mismatched optics showing the human expression of confusion. "I . . .I summoned you here."

Megatron had to almost smack Starscream backwards with his cannon to keep him from charging forward and frightening their possible guide to the energy he detected. He too wanted to correct this human of daring to assume she could summon the Megatron. "Yuna, was it? What do you mean by summon?"

"I'm a summoner . . .or I just became one a few hours ago." The human replied. She bowed again, without forming the ball, and said, "I'm sorry if I caused you any inconvenience and I will send you back. I was curious to see what sort of Aeons you were."

"Aeons?" Thundercracker piped from the back.

"From the . . .Fayth . . ." The girl was staring at them, uncertainty clear in her voice. "You are aeons, right?"

"Of course, we are." Megatron said quickly before Starscream could scream the truth at the girl. "We are . . .confused. Allow me a moment to speak with my associates."

"Of course." Yuna said stepping back as if to give them privacy. She stared at them curiously however and confusion apparent on her face.

Megatron turned to his cohorts and slipped into Cybertronian. "Soundwave, run a scan. I want to find out where the energy is coming from and what form it is."

"Why are you letting this human believe she has control over US?" Starscream snarled. "Make her send us back!"

"Not until I find this energy." Megatron snapped. "She's not in control, I am."

Megatron glanced back at Yuna and saw that she was patiently waiting for him to turn his attention back to him. She wasn't fidgeting, demanding his attention, or any of those annoying things that Starscream and young humans tended to do. Another 0.001 point for her.

She was, however, watching the Insecticons curiously. All three of them were upon a tree devouring it.

"Best stuff we ever had." Kickback managed to saw between tree in take.

"So full of energy, energy."

That only proved what Megatron knew. There was energy here and he wanted it. "Soundwave, have you found anything?"

"Yes, Megatron. Energy signals are everywhere and they are constantly relocating."

"You mean the energy moves around?" Megatron asked gauging his choices. "This must be investigated and this planet explored."

"How do you know we're on a different planet?" Starscream challenged.

"Since when has the humans on Earth spoke of summoners, aeons, and Fayth?" Megatron answered coolly.

"What about her?" Starscream said motioning to Yuna who was still watching the Insecticons.

The tree the Insecticons had been eating began to fall with Kickback riding it down. "Wee!" The girl giggled softly with a hand covering her mouth.

"She's going to tell me more about this planet and about herself. A human that can teleport us across dimensions has possibilities."

"Sure, she could teleport us right in the middle of Autobot HQ." Starscream's voice drip with sarcasm.

Megatron gave Starscream a rare smile and said, "Exactly, but more likely she can teleport our new energy source back to Earth. Soundwave, send out Laserbeak and Buzzsaw to scout, and also Rumble to help locate energy sources."  
"As you command, Megatron." Soundwave replied.

The girl's attention was quickly grabbed as Soundwave's chest cavity opened and the three casseticons ejected and unfolded themselves. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw flew off in separate directions while Rumble landed on his feet

"Starscream, you, Skywarp, and Rumble go explore the island. Thundercracker, go with three of the constructicons and explore for more lands with this energy source. The rest of the Construticons go and seek out any possible areas to build a space-bridge. Stay out of sight, do not alert the natives to our presence. Soundwave, you're with me."

"What about the bugs?" Skywarp pointed at the Insecticons.

Megatron had almost forgotten about them. He turned to them and said, "Shrapnel go look for . . .more energy filled trees." Anything to keep the Insecticons out of his circuits and out of the way.

The Decepticons departed to follow his orders and Yuna gasped as she watched the robots ascend upwards and over the trees. Soon following them were the Insecticons as they headed north.

"That's amazing. I didn't know that you could fly." Yuna said as the Insecticons disappeared over the canopy of green branches.

"That's just one of our many talents, my dear." Megatron slipped back into the human language. His brain signals told him that he would garner more information from this human if she gave it freely. He would have to be patient and deal with the human as he had with Sean Berger. Soundwave would be recorded every word that was said for future reference.

"I never . . .thought that machina could act . . .so human." The girl said shifting her booted feet.

Megatron ignored the 'act like human' comment and focused on the other thing she said. "Machina?"  
"Yes. I think the old word for them is machine." Yuna answered. "I don't think there's any machina like you in all of Spira."

Spira? Must be the name of the planet.

"I . . I hope I am not giving you this warning too late, but . . .it might be best if your friends didn't let themselves be seen by anybody. I . . .hope you don't take offence by this, but machina is taboo on Spira."

Both Megatron and Soundwave were, of course, taken back. For a Transformers who live for millions of years amongst technology, relied on technology, and is practically technology, for something that was almost the core of their being to be forbidden was unimaginable.

"Tell me more."

* * *

"I don't see nothin'." Rumble muttered as he shoved aside a bush. His fellow explorers only had to worry about long and heavy branches that smacked their faces and shoulders.

"This is a waste of time." Starscream growled as he broke off a branch and threw it aside. "There is no energy. No oil, generator, or coal. The humans here live like those humans on Earth that have no technology. Megatron should have the human germ send us back now before we run out of energy on this stupid water planet."

The trio had wondered around following false energy signatures for the last thirty minutes. They stayed away from the village, but were able to see the round huts surrounding a large stone building which they determined must be their center of government.

"But I'm detectin' energy around here." Rumble smacked the side of a scanner he held. He glared at it and shook it. "Stupid thing keeps leadin' us to these monsters."

A tan dog like creature burst through the bushes and leapt at Rumble who promptly slap it aside hard enough to break human bones. The thing yelped and landed on it's side. It writhed as its physical form dispense into the air as glowing orbs with tails of glimmering rainbow.

"That's the sixth organic we killed that's made of these . . .bugs." Skywarp said watching the flying orbs twirl about each other.

"I wonder if we killed the human would she dispense like this." Starscream pondered and imagined the thought with a chilling smile on his face.

Rumble scowled at his scanner and smacked it again. "The dumb thing is still tellin' me there's energy here when there ain't!"

"Get away!" A daring little orb flew higher upwards to sail near Starscream's face. He fanned a blue hand and it seemed to dance away from him.

Skywarp grabbed it and held it clutched tightly in his hand. "Stupid bug."

He felt a spark with his palm that crept slowly through the metal and out the back of his hand. The little orb of light rose from the back of his hand trailing behind it its rainbow tail. Skywarp watched it amazed and clutched his hand. The sparky feeling was still there, but it felt good, almost like a small, tiny surge of recharge that happened in his hand. The little orb flew in front of him, almost as if it was laughing at him. It was smaller than it was before Skywarp had grabbed it.  
"It don't really look like a bug." Skywarp muttered as his optics studied it carefully. "Just looks like light and something else."  
"I hate this scanner. Now it sayin' the energy is on top of me." Rumble groaned from their feet. Just ten feet above him floated the little light. Skywarp and Starscream stared at the little light as the realization dawned on them.

"This is the energy?" Skywarp poked at the light and it seemed to dance about his intruding finger.

"Not only that . . . despite how small it is, it's still able to show up on a scanner." Starscream said thoughtfully. "This must be very powerful energy indeed."

"Well, let's bag it and get some more." Rumble said relieved that they had solved the mystery and wouldn't get yelled at or bashed by Megatron.

"How? It went through my hand." Skywarp flicking a finger through the rainbow tail of the orb.

"So? I have a special container that should hold it." Starscream reached into his compartment and withdrew a round container. It was a relic from his ancient years as a scientist when he carried this to take samples. It was made of a special alloy to even prevented energy from being released.

Starscream removed the lid, easily caught the slow moving orb, and dropped the lid on top. He made sure it was secured before replacing it back into his compartment.

"So these things come from the creatures that are destroyed?" Skywarp asked with a mischievous grin. "Let's go hunting."

Thus the three Decepticons brandish their weapons and headed deeper into the forest and went hunting.

* * *

"Marvelous, simply marvelous." Bombshell laughed looking about what the Insecticons believed could only be Heaven.

Macalania Woods it was known as to the natives of Spira. To the Insecticons, it was Paradise. The trees provided an excellent and limitless supply of food, the twisting and vine like branches provided excellent cover and hiding places, and the dimness and dampness of the place was very much to their liking since they were quasi-organic.

They even found a good place for a new hive. Far back within the depths of Macalania woods was a very large tree that overlooked a luminescent lake. The great roots burrowed deep into the lake and provided tunnels that just needed to be widen and strengthened for the robotic insects.

"This is the life." Kickback emerged from a hole in his alt-mode shaking soil from his antennas. "No stinking Autbots, no cheapskate Megatron or Decepticons, or any annoying humans."

"Megatron can go back for all we care, care." Sharpnel munched on a branch yards above.

* * *

Megatron had been right. Showing a gentle approach made the girl into a fountain of knowledge and information that she willingly gave upon the asking. She was very eager to please to him, another 0.0001 point.

Within the hour that Yuna and Megatron conversed, he had learned most of how things worked in Spira. Spira was united under one government, a government revolving around the planet's main religion, Yevon. The heads of the government were known as Maesters. There were currently four Maesters, one to head each race of Spira and one to head them all. They presided over laws, Spira's affairs, and the spiritual side of the planet.

A thousand years ago, there had been a great war between the humans. Yevon had decided that mankind had become too reliant on machina and the last straw was when mankind used powerful machina to fight each other in a war. Yevon punished mankind for their sins by created a giant monster called Sin. Sin was to stalk around the planet destroying all that it came across until mankind was redeemed for its sins.

To give the people hope, Yevon gave the first Summoner, Yunalesca (Yuna had shyly admitted that her father named her after her) the Final Aeon. A summons that could temporarily destroy Sin and bring about a period of peace called the Calm.

"So you are out to destroy this Sin creature?" Megatron simplified from his perch on a nearby rock.

Yuna was sitting not too far from his feet on the grass her staff by her. She lightly had her legs folded to her chest and she was leaning back to speak to him face to face. "Yes . . . my pilgrimage official starts tomorrow . . . when the boat comes. I'll go to Kilika Island . . .and then Luca and we'll travel by foot for rest of the way."

"What you destination?"

"I'm to travel to all the temples in Spira . . .and attain each aeon from them to make me strong enough to attain the Final Aeon at the ruins of Zanarkand . . .very far to the north."

"All to defeat a creature that's only going to come back?" Megatron asked eyeing her with red optics.

Yuna bit her bottom lip and said, "Please, don't say it isn't worth it. It is. Anytime that the people of Spira . . . are able to live without fear is worth anything."

"But you are giving them fear. Fear of Sin coming back." Megatron said studying her face and figure.

Yuna was stunned for a moment. She shifted uneasily and said carefully, "One day, Sin won't come back. When we have atoned for our sins, Yevon will banish Sin from our world and we will have the Eternal Calm."

Megatron smiled, but it did nothing to comfort the chill in Yuna's heart. It was like the fatal point of a knife with his harsh face and red eyes. "Of course, my dear, of course. Please, let's change the subject since this is upsetting you."

Yuna nodded and shrugged the smallest moment of dread Megatron had dripped inside her. "Yes, what do you want to talk about next?"

"Tell me about the machina you do have." Megatron said glad to get to a subject he wanted.

"Oh, not very much. Only the Maesters can decide what machina is good or bad."

"Good or bad?" If he had real eyebrows he would have raised one.

"Machina that can be used to help people medically are good as is the blitz ball dome in Luca. The forbidden ones are guns and weapons, but I meant no offence to you." She added very quickly when remembered the black cannon on his arm.

Megatron ignored her apology and said leaning forward, "How are these machina powered?"

"Powered?"

"How are they started? What makes them run?" He used phrases from Earth and he had to keep himself in check from being impatient with the girl.

"I think they are powered up by running water. I'm sorry, but I can only tell you from what I know from my time in Bevelle . . .and I haven't live there in ten years."

So the human was ignorant of energy resources no doubt. Those fools better find the energy source that's been keeping his radar buzzing for the past hour.

"I'm sorry, but I must go." Yuna said getting to her feet and brushing clinging grass from her skirt. "I promise that I would be back before dark. I will send you back now."

"No, wait." Blast, he needed more time to investigate this planet and plan.

Yuna looked up at him puzzled. "Yes?"

"We need one day before you send us back. We want to explore the planet." Giving a little bit of truth from time to time never hurts.

"Oh, I'm sorry. But I start my pilgrimage tomorrow. I . . . can't summon more than one aeon at a time and traveling in Spira is dangerous. I'll need to summon to help my guardians in battle."

Blast, blast. He fought the urge to threaten the girl. Who said he never had any self-control? "Do you not trust your guardians?"

"What?"

"Are they not strong enough to protect you?"

"They are very strong. Wakka and Lulu are experienced guardians and Khimari is very powerful." Yuna replied not sure where he was going with this.

"Then they should be more than enough to protect you." Megatron said smiling. "I can have one of my associates stay near by and lend a hand is needed."  
Yuna chewed her lip. She wanted to do the right thing and send them back, but she didn't want Megatron unhappy. He was an aeon that had chosen her as his summoner and in some way she owed him. "Just one day?"

"One day." Megatron affirmed.

Yuna shifted her feet and said, "I'll . . .need to send you back before I go to Kilika temple. I doubt . . .that I can attain another aeon if I already have one summoned."

"Very well. We will meet you at this Kilika Island in time for you to send us back."

"It's the island just north of this one, but bigger." Yuna said. "Try to meet me in the jungle."

"Of course. We'll keep out of sight."

"Okay." Yuna said finally deciding to go through with this. "I have to go now. Please, remember Kilika Island tomorrow. It's very important that I send you back before I can get the next aeon."

Megatron stood and Yuna stepped back from the sheer velocity of his strength and size. "Of course, that is the whole point of your mission, isn't it."

Yuna performed the Prayer of Yevon to him and said, "Goodbye for today. May the Blessing of Yevon be upon you, Megatron."

Megatron nodded and watched the girl turn and disappear into the jungle. Soundwave stood not too far away and had stopped the recording. Megatron smiled yet again and whispered, "Save your 'blessings' for yourself you stupid girl. You're going to need them."


	3. Temptation of the Saint

A bit more on the Tidus and Yuna relationship as I saw it develope in the game. I'm playing the game as I write this so I can be accurate with the characters on the FF10 side.

* * *

Before nightfall, Megatron and Soundwave met up with Starscream, Skywarp and Rumble for their report.

"Tell me you've done something right." Megatron said in a cool tone.

"Don't worry 'Mighty Megatron'." Starscream held up the container holding the collection of flying orbs they had collected from their hunt. "We have the energy right here."

"Oh, you do?" Megatron eyed the container uncertainly. So help him, if Starscream bungled this up . . . "Let me see for myself."

"Careful, Megatron, don't open it all the way or they'll all escape." Starscream warned as Megatron confiscated the container from his hand. "It took us mega-cycles to hunt down the organics and collect the orbs."

Megatron had no blasted idea of what Starscream was talking about, but however; he eased the lid off a bit. Light glowed from the crack and lit up his chassis from the dimming light of the setting sun. Three orbs floated out of the crack trailing behind them wavy rainbow tales. He snapped the lid shut and stared at the flying lights.

"What in Primus are these?" The orbs seemed to dance enjoying their freedom from Starscream's container.

"The energy." Starscream said with a tone that also said, 'I just TOLD you what they were'.

"Soundwave, scan these."

Soundwave reached out for a tilting orb and grabbed it much as Skywarp had done earlier. His blue fist glowed violet for a second and then he opened his hand releasing the orb. "Affirmative, Megatron. Lights are high concentration of energy. How this is possible, is unknown."

Megatron waved his hand through the glowing trio and they flew away as if disturbed. "Amazing. How were these discovered?"

"Apparently, the creatures on this planet disperse into energy upon destruction. We must kill everything on this planet and collect the energy."

"You assume all of this from killing a few animals?" Megatron snorted still amazed at how Starscream could have been a scientist once and still an idiot. "What we need is information on these things and the planet. I bought us one day before the girl sends us back to Earth."

"What?" Starscream said shocked. "What if we run out of energy? Find her and make her send us back you fool?"  
"Starscream, you pathetic fool!" Megatron punched him across the jaw. Starscream fell with a satisfied clang and stared up at his superior with fear and hate in his optics. "We can do without energy for one day easily if don't overexert our power, which should not be too hard since we won't be battling any Autobots Now get up, we have work to do."

Starscream pushed himself to his feet and silently cursed Megatron and vowed to one day destroy him and become Decepticon Leader.

* * *

Megatron and Soundwave pieced together rough map of Spira from Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Thundercracker's group reports. Spira mostly consisted of water, more water than Earth in fact. There was two main continents and small islands around them. There were other islands far from the coast and they held ruins of villages and cities, however, since apparently exploration was too lethal due to the ever present of Sin.

None of the Decepticons had not caught so much of a glance of this Sin creature. Megatron deduce that it was possibly an over exaggeration created by the humans superstition and illogical fear of deep water. Just like the human that get attacked by a bear and claim that it was Big Foot and so forth. He did not give it much mind.

The Constructicons returned finding an island far away from the main continents of Spira to now be seen and large enough for a space-bridge. All they needed was building material which was easier said than done. The only suitable building materials could only be found in the two cities of Spira: Luca and Bevelle and since they wanted to keep a low profile for now they would have to somehow figure out how to get the material from Earth.

Which was another problem in itself. Megatron did not want to depend on a human girl to bring them over to attain the energy. They couldn't collect enough of it one trip and he wanted to experiment and see what sort of energon it would produce. They needed to get free access to Spira by their own means. Soundwave said that this problem could likely be solved by rebooting the old computer used in the disastrous test run that had landed them in this situation to begin with, but they would also need to see how Yuna is able to summon.

"The human has an ability to open time and space without the use of a space-bridge. This could explain the phenomenon experienced the previous day. We would need to probe her brain in order to determine how she is able access this function and apply the information to the space-bridge. It is experimental, but it can be done."

"Can you scan her mind? Attain the information that way?" Megatron asked thoughtfully. He was fully confident that Soundwave knew what he was talking about.

"Affirmative, but applying the information to the space-bridge will take trial and error to get it functioning correctly. I would need to scan the human's mind multiple times, attaining a new scan for each trial in order to receive the correct scan."

Which gave an unwanted twist in the plan. There was no way he could convince the girl to allow Soundwave to take several scans of her brain without giving her an explanation that would make sense to her, other than the truth. So Yuna would have to available to scan as many times as necessary until they can get the correct coordinates and information into the space-bridge. This would be easier if they can get her back to Earth with them . . .or could they?

It would be easy if she was a willing participate and Megatron knew how to get human to participate with his plans.

Another matter was the energy; there had to be an easier of attaining it other than hunting down these creatures and collecting the orbs left behind. There had to be a source of these orbs somewhere on this planet.

He had Soundwave send out Laserbeak to keep an eye on Yuna, not to keep his promise to the human, but he couldn't afford if the human became destroyed and they were permanently separated from Cybertron and the others. They had no way of knowing what galaxy they were in or how many light years they were from Earth or Cybertron. They could spend years traveling through space before they came across anything that was any of their galactic charts not to mention that they would run out of energy before then. Laserbeak had a better chance of keeping out of sight, record information, and secure Yuna if needed.

He hated that all his plans hinged on the welfare of one single human.

* * *

This was the first time years that Yuna had ever kept a secret from Lulu, Wakka, and Khimari since she could remember. As she walked back to the village, her heart pounded and she wondered if she had really spoken for one hour with a 30 foot tall machina man. She felt proud, she could feel how powerful they were by being near them and for her, a newly fledge summoner to summon such aeon could only mean that she was strong enough to attain the Final Aeon.

However, some things puzzled her and cast a shadow on her hope. Why did they not know their purpose? They seemed to be confused and disoriented as if they just woke up in a place they had never been before. How could they not know about Sin and a summoner's pilgrimage? It was what they were meant for and their purpose to aid her as it is for her to attain the Final Aeon. Maybe it was as Megatron said; this could be the first time they were summoned for that she had never heard of aeons taking the form of giant machina before.

It was that night when she was first able to speak with Tidus. They were only able to exchange a few words. The people had sadly obtained an instant dislike for him since he entered the Trials of Cloisters despite the worry over her safety. They didn't seem to want her to associate with him too much. From what she could see of him, he seemed really nice and kind.

That morning, she had meant to rise and be dressed early that morning, but she had trouble. She couldn't dress as quickly as she would have liked. It was like her body refused to do what her mind wanted. It seemed like her body knew she would be leaving Besaid forever.

She cried. She sat on her bed and sob softly into her pillow. She didn't want to leave her home and the people who loved her, but it was for them that she was leaving. She would rather leave it and never come back then ever see Sin destroy it and kill the people of Besaid. She dried her tears and washed her face. She looked herself sternly in the mirror and told herself, "No more tears, Yuna. These will be the last tears you cry. Your journey will be fun and full of laughter. Wakka and Lulu will not remember you crying. Khimari will not see you cry."

Her mind flashed across Tidus and his smiling face and she also added, "Be happy like him."

She remembered taking her last look at the temple that had been her home for the last seven years when she had chosen to become a summoner. She performed the Prayer of Yevon to her home and began her pilgrimage with her guardians.

She had said all her goodbyes to the people of Besaid and as the boat pulled away from the pier, she was about to perform one last Prayer of Yevon, when she spied Kyou running up on the pier. Tears stained his cheeks and his face was screwed from crying. He waved goodbye and she waved back. She smiled warmly at him, even though her heart was crying.

_No more tears. She told herself that that morning._

They weren't the only ones leaving on the journey. Travelers from Besaid had boarded also along with a few travelers passing through the southern isles. She was instantly surrounded by people hoping to speak and hopefully pray with the Daughter of High Summoner Braska. Even a few of the ships crew were among the ground. She spoke and greeted them all with Khimari standing silently being her as her protective shadow.

When the bell chimed for a meal, the crowd departed and she was finally able to speak with Tidus. At first, it was very awkward and all she was able to say initially, "The wind . . . it's nice."

She felt silly, but they laughed together. She loved his laugh. She could tell he laughed a lot and loved to laugh. His laugh was so full of spirit, joy, and honesty.

And better yet, he confirmed her suspicion, he was Sir Jecht's son; the little boy that Sir Jecht had told her about before he left on her father pilgrimage. Tidus didn't look like he cried as much as Sir Jecht had claimed he did. It filled her with joy and hope that this was a sign from Yevon that Tidus was meant to journey with them. She couldn't understand it. Though they spent so little time together, each second with him made her forget her sorrow and her fear. Being with him made her feel that all was well with the world and nothing could ruin it.

How wrong she was.

Sin came.

* * *

Laserbeak followed behind the boat staying far away that he couldn't be seen by humans eyes. He used his long sighted scope to keep an eye on the ship. When the monster attacked, he crept in close recording everything.

The humans took care of the monster surprisingly well with attacks and it left with no incident to the summoner human. Laserbeak stayed with the boat until it pulled up to the shambles of what had once been an ocean side village.

* * *

During the night, Thundercracker and Skywarp, while doing reconnaissance, found a source of energy. Thousands of the little orbs floated above the water of a river called the Moonflow by the natives. They reported their finding to Megatron who sent the Constucticons, Starscream, and Rumble to collect as many samples as they could.

"I didn't join the army to collect bugs." Skywarp muttered as he easily caught a slow moving orb and dropped the lid on top of it.

"I don't know, easiest job I've had since I joined." Thundercracker commented easily snapping three orbs in one sweep.

Rumble and Frenzy were at their feet vacuuming the orbs into two containers attached to long hoses. "Why isn't Starscream helping?" Rumble muttered as he roved the vacuum head over the aura of orbs.

"Because I'm supervising you little idiot." Starscream snapped. He occasionally swatted at any orb that dared to fly too close to him. "Little pests."

"Careful, Starscream." Scrapper said sneering at him. "Megatron might not like you abusing his energy."

"He's too busy coddling his little pet human." Starscream muttered swatting at yet another orb.

Several hours later, the sun began to rise and with it, the orbs. They seemed to dispense along with darkness and evaporated into the air.

"Starscream." Megatron's voice came over his radio. "Meet us at the rendezvous point on Kilika island. We're returning to Earth."

* * *

The Decepticons waited deep within the jungle of Kilika Island. They waited for almost five hours.

"When is she going to get here?" Starscream whined, arms crossed. "Where is Laserbeak?"

"They're on the way. Be patient or else." Megatron said steadily. He too was getting impatient. He was anxious to get back to the underwater base and test Soundwave's theories and see what sort of energon the collected orbs produced. Also, he wanted to see if Yuna could answer a few more questions before they departed.

"Did you hear something?" Thundercracker popped his head up and looked around.

"No, what?" Skywarp asked his friend.

"I don't know. I think . . .I think it was breaking wood or something."

"Just your imagination." Skywarp assured him.

Another hour passed and nothing.

The Constructicons talking quietly amongst themselves, possibly about needed material for the space-bridge on that island, and Skywarp and Thundercracker hung out together. Megatron mused silently and Soundwave was standing near him silent. Starscream, of course, was making himself known.

"She's not coming. The little fleshie lied, we're going to die out here on some unknown planet!" Starscream moaned fidgeting.

"Shut, Starscream." Megatron snapped and resisted the urge to hit him. If the creature didn't come soon . . .

Soundwave moved and said, "Laserbeak arrives."

Sure enough, three seconds later, the black robotic bird soared over the tree tops and folded in on itself into a cassette and fitted neatly into Soundwave's chest cavity. The turn tiles inside Soundwaves chest turned as he read information from Laserbeak and he said, "The human has arrived."

"Finally!" Starscream piped.

"When is she coming?" Megatron said seeing the setting sun through the branches.

Soundwave read some more information and reported, "She's currently performing a 'sending'."

"A sending?" Starscream squealed. "She's supposed to come here and send us back!"

"Patience, Starscream. She's on the island. She'll come."

"You should show more control over a human than this, 'Mighty Megatron'." Starscream jabbed at him.

Before Megatron could grab him by the throat and punish him for his overstepping his bound, his radar picked up huge energy signature to the south. He froze and he said, "Energy? Did Laserbeak see anything from the south."

Soundwave read some more information and said, "The Kilika village was destroyed by Sin . . .an hour ago."

All the Decepticons did a take back and Thundercracker nodded his head and said, "I knew I heard something."

"Impossible. We would have detected something if the village was under attack." Megatron said angrily. Not that he wanted to save the village, not at all. But for something lethal enough to destroy a village can get near them without them knowing disturbed him.

"This is what Laserbeak reports." Soundwave would have shrugged if he was human.

The energy signature rose in power and Megatron twisted around toward it and said, "Soundwave, come with me to investigate this. The rest of you stay here and so help me if any of you disobey me . . ." He trailed off his optics on Starscream who looked offended.

Megatron and Soundwave left the group and treaded through the thick trees and vines. They would have flown if it wasn't the risk of being seen wasn't so high. They came to a cliff which overlooked a sharp drop into the ocean. They had to be careful not to stand too to the edge lest it should crumble beneath them.

However, they were able to see around the curvature of the island and see what was left of Kilika Village. Though the village was composed of mostly weak wood, the two Transformers could help, but be amazed at the devastation that had occurred less than two kilometers away without their knowing. Whatever had done this was silent, but very violent.

Then they spotted Yuna _standing on top of the water _and swinging her staff around her. It looked to be some ritual dance performed by some of the humans' cultures, until . . .

The wind started to pick up and Megatron could see the coffins within the water below her feet. They moved through the water, surrounding and from them emerged energy orbs trailing tails of rainbow behind them. The water rose, lifting her as she danced upon the raising pillar of water. The energy orbs swarmed around as she swung the staff over her head and spun her body in dance.

The energy reading on his radar was going crazy and it was all coming from her and her dance. What was she doing?

The dance reached it climax as she ended her dance gracefully by kneeling with her staff vertical from the water floor. The pillar of water lowered her gently to the water's surface and she stood. She performed the bow while holding a ball toward the setting sun and then went back to shore.

"The human has created energy through her movements." Soundwave analyzed .

"Yes, this human and this planet are just full of surprises." Megatron said in deep thought. "I want this human for study on Cybertron once we capitalize on this planet."

"Brain dissection?" Soundwave asked.

"Eventually."

* * *

Yuna spent what remained of the day speaking with grieving families and praying. Then she attended the sick and wounded. They each wanted to touch her. Blood grimed hands reached out to clutch at her skirt and long sleeves. They called out her name and wept when she had to leave them to attend to others.

When she finally was able to leave and be alone, she stood silent and still room within the ship, which was remaining to offer room to those who had no place to sleep and the crew could help with the wreckage. She clenched her fists so hard they shook and she fought the urge to cry or scream.

She would defeat Sin.

She must defeat Sin.

She had heard the stories of Sin's attacks from the Crusaders, but to actually see the destruction for herself, to walk among it, and to send the dead.

There had been _children among the dead._

She had felt them. Felt their fear, their anger at being killed before their time, and the relief as she led to them to peace of the Farplane. She had sent . . .

Oh no, she had forgotten. She needed to meet the giant machina in the forest. How could she have forgotten?

She was in luck that Wakka and the Aurochs were busy helping out with repairs and Lulu was doing what she could do for the sick and wounded. She had sent Yuna back to the boat to sleep when she saw the girl nodding off.

Where was Khimari? She wasn't sure because he disappeared whenever the whim took him. She easily slip through the wreckage and it must have been the will of Yevon that no one took notice of her as she disappeared into the jungle.

It wasn't hard to find the machina and halted before Megatron and performed hasty bows of apology to him.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I . . . I was so busy. Please, forgive me."

"No, it was no trouble for us." He gave Starscream a venomous glare over her bowed head warning him into silence. He turned his optics back to Yuna and said, "What was it you were doing earlier? On the water with the lights?"

Yuna stood straight and said, "I was performing the sending for those who died from Sin's attack." She looked at him and said, "You . . .were here during the attack?"

"No, we . . . were too late to do anything to help." Megatrom lied through his vocaliser.

"I see." Yuna looked away very dishearten. "A lot of people died . . ."

Megatron wasn't in the mood for her sob stories. He cut in, "What were those lights?"

She looked up and said, "You mean the Pyreflies?"

"Is that what they are called?"

"Yes. You don't see them very often. Only during sendings, killing fiends, and I heard at the Moonflow. Oh, and . . .at the Farplane in Guadosalam."

"Farplane?" Megatron leaned forward a grin on his face.

"Yes. That's where the dead go when I perform the sending."

"Yuna, I have a proposition to make for you." Megatron said. "Have you ever had thoughts of become Grand Maester?"

At first, Yuna wasn't sure if she heard him correctly. "I'm sorry? Grand Maester? But, I'm a Summoner, I'm going on my pilgrimage."

"After your pilgrimage." Megatron insisted.

"No, don't you know? I won't be around after my pilgrimage." Yuna looked at a point at Megatron's shoulder, not wanting to tell him to his face. "When I perfume the Final Summoning, I . . .I'll die."

She said it. She said the words that neither Lulu nor Wakka were brave enough to say.

Megatron was stunned. "Am I hearing this correctly? You are traveling across this planet, collecting these aeons, to obtain this Final Aeon that when you use it to destroy Sin, it will kill you?"

"Her circuits are fried." Starscream whispered from behind.

"Why in Great Cybertron are you doing this?" Megatron demanded incredulously.

"I do it for Spira." Yuna said. "My father before me did the same ten years ago and I wish to give Spira the Calm. Destruction of Kilika village has shown me firsthand the pain of the people and I want to end their suffering. I would willingly die a hundred time if it keep one child from being killed by Sin."  
"Her circuits are fried, stripped, and dipped in acid." Starscream said revolted.

Megatron made one last attempt, "If you became Grand Maester than you could help the . . . people more."

Yuna closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, I'm not wise enough to become a Maester, much less a Grand Maester. The people need the Calm and I can give it to them. Nothing will help them more than that."

Megatron had come across something he never imagined he would ever discover. A human who held no thoughts for power or wealth, only for the sake of others. How sickening. How wasteful, gross, and sickening. She made his coolants thicken in his pipes and gears.

Megatron forced himself to smile and said, "If that is what you . . .want."

"It is." Yuna said softly, but with inner strength. It confirmed her decision more than ever that her purpose was to bring the Calm to Spira. "I will send you back now. In the morning, I go to the temple to receive the next aeon."

"Then do so." Megatron's patience was nearly at an end. Then he quickly added, "Bring us back here before your . . .demise."

Yuna concentrated and sent them back to Earth.


	4. Taking the Saint

"How did we get here?"

Megatron looked to his right and to his annoyance; it was all three of the Insecticons standing nearby and looking bewildered. He had forgotten about them during his planning.

"We want to go back!" Kickback yelled at Megatron as if he had something to do with their teleportation.

"Leave!" Megatron snapped. "We have work to do and I won't have . . ."

"Megatron! Starscream!" Surprised voices cut in. The shocked faces of the Coneheads and the Triple Changers stared at them shocked.

Dirged stepped forward and said, "How did you get back? We thought you were destroyed . . ."

"Fool! Out of my way and summon the others. There's work to be done and we have a blasted time limit." Megatron knocked him aside and saw that they were in the control center of the base. "Tell every one to come to the control for orders. Bring an energon converter and tools. Retrieve the failed space-bridges from the scrap heap and send it to Soundwave's lab."

The unsummoned Decepticons nodded and turned to follow their leader's orders. However, Megatron could faintly hear, "Slag, he's not back for a nano-click and he's already shooting off orders."

Let them glitch for now. They were about to come back from the loosing streak they've been having with the Autobots.

Less than half an hour later, Megatron gave his announcement and a rough idea of his plans to the Decepticons, but these were received with unease. For one thing, they didn't take to the idea that a mere human could summon a number of them at will and also there energy source were these bug like lights.

"They look like those insects that light up. What was it the humans call them?" Astrotrain commented when Skywarp was ordered to release a couple to show them.

"Firebugs." Dirge suggested. "Or maybe it was lightning bugs."

"They are not bugs." Starscream was never lacking in letting someone know that he knew more than them.

"Then what are they called?" Thrust leaned away as a pyrefly flew too close to his face, highlight his faceplate shadowed by his tall helmet.

"Pyreflies." Skywarp said with a wicked grin.

A titter of laughter waved through the crowd of metal robots and Megatron couldn't help, but smirk at Starscream's humiliation.

"Silence, you fools!" Starscream screeched waving his null ray promising violence.

"Starscream, put that away and bring that container over here." Megatron lifted the top off a small energon converter. "Let's find out how much energon these pyreflies can produce."

Starscream still seething stalked over and thrust the container into Megatron's hand. Megatron held the converter's lid in one hand and pried the lid off the container with his thumb. He slapped it, open face down on the converter's opening to keep any of the pyreflies from escaping. "Start the machine."

Soundwave pressed a switch and the converter hummed to light. In less than five seconds the energon cube emerged from the small conveyor belt at the bottom near Megatron's feet. Megatron estimated that a container of pyreflies could possibly produce one or two cube based on their intensity of energy. Imagine his surprised when five cubes rolled out and more were still coming.

"Quick, stack these cubes out of the way." Three more cubes rolled out scattering the first ones across the floor.

While Bliztwing and Thundercracker came forward and stacked the cubes neatly against the far way, the converter rolled out five more cubes. They all watched as the cubes continued to roll out. It wasn't just the number of the cubes that the pyreflies had produced, it was the energon itself. Energon was normally pink and can sometimes be iridescent colors, but these cubes had color swarming within. They glowed and lights shimmered within them.

Within ten minutes after injecting the pyreflies into the converter, fifty energon cubs were stacked columns against the far wall. Megatron lifted the bottom of the container and all the pyreflies were gone. He tossed it aside and his optics gleamed as he stared at the energon that nearly filled half the room.

Already, just from one container of pyreflies he had enough to get his plans in motion and then some. Everyone was whispering amongst themselves, and they all seemed very relieved that their energon shortage was at an apparent end.

However, someone was not happy.

"How do we know that this energon won't be harmful to us?" Starscream said interrupting the good mood of the group. "Look at it. It looks like the human's oil paints mixed in coolant. I say we throw this out and forget about the human and Spira."

Megatron picked up a cube and held it out to Starscream. "Very well, then let's test it."

Starscream took a frightened step back, his mouth opened in an O of surprise. "Me? Ingest that! I refuse!"  
"Come now, Starscream. I remember that you were frightened that we would run out of energy during our stay in Spira. You really should energize soon." Megatron stepped forward, grinning evilly and the energon outward.

"No!" Starscream took another step backwards.

"I insist. Astrotrain, Blitzwing, hold him!"

As if they already knew what Megatron had planned they lunged forward. Before Starscream could react, each of the larger Transformers caught an arm each and held him. He screamed and cursed them in Cybertronian.

"Get away from me! Let go!" He yanked on his arms and tried to kick their legs.

They each grasped his wrists and pulled his arms back while pushed forward on his shoulders where his movement was very limited. He twisted his torso and tossed his head while Megatron came closer with the feared cube.

"Bottoms up, Starscream." Megatron said as he forced the cube to Starscream's lips components. He held him almost brutally by the throat and forced his head back, letting the energy drain down his throat pipe.

Starscream coughed some of it back, it dotted Megatron's face and hull. He clamped a hand over Starscream's mouth to prevent the rejection. When he was sure that it was entered into Starscream's fuel lines, he roughly released and stepped back with a half-full energon cube. Astrotrain and Blitzwing took this as a signal to release Starscream and step back.

Starscream fell forward on all fours. He crouch there for a moment, if he was human would be taking long ragged breaths. Then he giggled.

The Decepticons stared at him as he sat back on the floor and grinned up at Megatron with a loopy smile on his face. "Aw, Mighty Megatron, always lookin' out fo' uzz. Makin' zure we gotsh our energiez."

Megatron watched as tiny little pyreflies escaped from the over energized Starscream's lip components as he spoke. They flew up toward the ceiling and dissipated as if they hadn't the strength to keep their forms.

Megatron turned his attention back to Starscream. He was singing a popular Cybertronian drinking song. He thought silently to him about how Starscream's energy at to be less than fifty percent. Yet, not only has half an energon cube fully recharged him, but made him seriously over energized. Not only has the pyreflies created massive amounts of energon, but they created potent energon.

He turned his attention to half-full energon cube in his hands and raised it to his lip components. He took out a small sip and he felt it; it was nothing he had ever had before. The energon spread through his system's fuel lines. The sparks bled and seeped through his circuitry and every component in his body. He wore that his chassis was humming with it. Megatron was something humans would called lightly buzzed.

He felt the small pyreflies flying up through his throat pipe and he closed his mouth to keep them from escaping. He felt them inside lightly touching the inside of his faceplate and then die inside his mouth. He smiled.

The pyreflies . . .they were the answer to everything. Winning the war, reawakening Cybertron, and conquest, they were tools and weapons to his universal dominance and it was all thanks to a foolish little girl named Yuna.

He turned to his soldiers and raised the cube high. "Drink up, Decepticons. Reenergize and we begin the steps to universal conquest!"

The Decepticons cheered and selected their energon cubes. The control room was soon filled with the cheers and laughter of militaristic robots while the little lights that escaped their celebrated died before reaching the ceiling.

* * *

As Yuna returned to the boat to rest, she caught sight of Tidus helping to set up a frame for what would be a new home in place of the shards of what remained of the last one. She stared after him as he held the frame in place while Wakka hammered it in place.

She watched him and remembered what Wakka had said. He would probably find someone who knows him when they reached Luca . She watched Tidus step away from the frame and dust his hands off and thought, _I don't want him to leave._

She hurried back to the boat for fear that Wakka or Tidus would see her and wonder what she was doing coming out of Kilika jungle at this time of night. However, someone did see her.

"Yuna?" Lulu stepped out of the dark shadow of the boat as Yuna approached the boarding plank. "Don't tell me you went out to work some more."

Yuna hated lying. She hated lying her childhood friend even more. She forced herself to smile and nod. "I'm sorry, but so many people need our help."

"Yuna." Lulu touched her shoulder in her usual way. "You need to rest up for tomorrow."

"Yes, I understand." Yuna replied. She let Lulu guide her up the plank and then a thought came to her. "Lulu, would it be possible for me to get another guardian?"  
Lulu paused and said, "Yuna, you don't the three of us are enough to protect you?"

"No, it's . . . it's not that." Yuna said quickly shaking her head. "I . . .I don't . . ."

Lulu stood back and put her hands on her hips in her stern motherly way of saying 'out with it'.

Yuna took a deep breath and said, "Lulu, I don't want Tidus to leave us."

Lulu's eyes widen and her dark eyebrows lifted upward. "Yuna . . ."

"No, it's not what you think." Yuna shook her head and held up a hand. "I do like him and he's very nice, but . . .I know that I can hold no feelings for someone due to . . .my pilgrimage."

Lulu cast her eyes aside, not looking at Yuna.

Yuna took a deep breath and said, "He's fun to be around. I like having him around. He makes . . . he makes me . . . happy, I enjoy being around him . . . he . . .make me forget . . ."

"Yuna, say no more." Lulu said very quickly. "If you want him for your guardian, then you know what you must do tomorrow."

Yuna nodded. A summoner must ask a possible Guardian to be their guardian face to face and the request accepted face to face. That is a summoner on her pilgrimage's privilege.

Lulu looked at Yuna's face and said, "He doesn't know about the end."

"I know."

"We should tell him."

Yuna shook her head. "I . . .don't want . . ."

"Yuna, we can't lie to him about this if he's going to become your guardian."

"I don't mean to lie to him . . .I . . . just don't . . ." _She didn't want to see his face fall. She didn't want to do anything that would take that warm smile from his face. She wanted his light to continue to shine. _

"Let's go to bed." Lulu said shrugging as if shifting weight off her shoulders. "You'll need your rest if you are to pray to the Fayth tomorrow."

* * *

That morning, in Kilika jungle, she asked him. "I want to ask you to be my guardian."

It was hard to say and she could barely look at him when she spoke. Before Tidus could respond, Wakka jumped in with his own questions.

Yuna could only respond with 'Not a guardian . . .I just want him nearby.'

Lulu saved her from paying for that admission. She felt embarrassed and foolish for asking now, but she pushed it aside as they continued to the temple.

She met Dona. Yuna never thought that she could ever dislike someone on a first meeting. Dona managed that just fine.

Yuna held out the hand of friendship as she would to any other summoner, but Dona refused to shake hands, in fact Dona practically spat in her hand. Yuna could not fathom why Dona would react so hostile toward her. First insulted her guardian with no reason and then having Tidus thrown into the Cloister of Trials was so shocking to her. When Dona left, she turned to give Tidus a smile in hopes that it would encourage him to choose to be her guardian.

Attaining the aeon of Kilika was tiring. Lulu was right; she needed her strength to pray to the Fayth. When she left the chamber, she collapsed to her knees and had to rise on the floor surrounded by her guardians until she was strong enough to stand and walk.

She was exhausted when they left, but she had enough strength to laugh at Tidus's scream at the opening of the temple. No matter what, Tidus always made her feel better.

* * *

"Megatron."

Megatron looked up from plans for a space-bridge he was overlooking with scrapper when Soundwave radioed him.

"What is it, Soundwave? I'm busy." _And you should be busy attaining information from that computer. _

"Laserbeak has recorded footage from Spira."

Megatron set the plan aside knowing that the recording must contain important information for Soundwave to stop his work and get Megatron's attention. "The plans are permissible. Gather up the materials and have them ready to transport at any time."

Things were going surprisingly smooth. It would have to be that Starscream was trying to work off his over energization and couldn't cause much trouble. He sent the Coneheads and Astrotrain to do another raid in the Middle East for oil to keep the Autbots in the dark about their new energy source. It would raise suspicions if all of a sudden they left the Earth's resources alone. The Autobots would wonder where they were getting the energy from to stay functioning.

They won't find that out until it's too late to do anything to stop them.

"Soundwave, this better be important." Megatron gave his usual warning.

Soundwave was hooking up a monitor and he turned to his leader and said, "It is footage of Sin."

Megatron didn't know whether to be curious or angry. He hadn't given much thought to this feared creature Sin, but he did remember the destroyed village that had been so silently taken apart without them knowing. Then again, it could be possibly nothing that was worth attention from him.

"Show me."

Soundwave transformed into his alt-mode and settled onto the counter beside the monitor. A panel on his side slipped open and a linkup slid out and connected to the monitor. The screen flick on and Megatron watched a recording of the S. S. Liki pushing through the water.

The screen closed in on Yuna standing at the front of the ship and talking with another human with yellow hair and armor. Then the ship rocked and a giant wave nearly tossed the ship onto its side. Then a huge vertical limb rose out of the water beside the tossing ship.

Megatron leaned forward and stared at the enormous pillar. "Is that . . .a fin?"

"Affirmative."

"It must be an enormous creature." Judging by the comparison in size between the fin and the ship, the fin was taller than himself. "This must be the creature that destroyed that human village."

It made sense. The ship was heading for the island and the fin was heading for the island. The Sin creature made it there first.

"I've seen enough." Megatron said stepping back and thinking.

Soundwave disconnected from the monitor and transformed back into robot mode. "The creature could present a threat to us."

"We can't have it destroying out space-bridge just because its there." Megatron rubbed the chin of his faceplate and smiled. "Soundwave, do we still the plans for the pylons? When we transported Cybertron to Earth's gravitation?"

"Affirmative. There may still be parts."

"And Dr. Archeville's research and control chips?"

Affirmative."

"Excellent." Megatron said smiling. He's been smiling a lot more lately. "Call the Construticons. We have much to discuss. If my plan goes accordingly, then the Autbots may have something much more to worry about than us."

* * *

Yuna was afraid. She was afraid that after the game that Tidus would leave. She wanted him to travel with her on her pilgrimage, but she was afraid to ask him to be her guardian again. He already knew that his father, whom he hated for some reason, had been her father's guardian. Would he not want to follow in his father's footsteps like she is doing hers and become her guardian?

The only time the warm look on his face would bleed away to hatred and discontent was when his father was mentioned. She could not understand his hatred. She remembered Sir Jecht clearly because it was the same day she met Sir Jecht as it was when her father left.

He was fun to be around and he loved to show off his blitz ball skills. He even talked a lot about his son. In a lot of way, Tidus reminded her of Sir Jecht, but she didn't dare tell him this.

Especially when Tidus took that microphone and stood on those crates and announced to Luca that the Besaid Aurochs were going home with the cup, she couldn't help but laugh. She felt enthusiastic and actually believed that this time, they would do it. They would win and take the cup back to Besaid. She prayed to Yevon that it would be so.

It was also there at the Luca docks that she caught her first glance of Seymour Guado. She had heard about him during her studies at the temple. His father was Guado while his mother was human. He was caught between two races and not being either one. She more than understood what it was like to have half blood with her mother an Al Bhed and her father a Yevonite. She understood how children can be cruel to someone different and it must have been harder still for Seymour since he doesn't carry the full appearance of either human or Guado.

Yet, despite these hardships he was able to rise and take his father's place as Maester for the Guado people. She couldn't help, but admire his successes and determination. He was even a summoner and she heard rumors that he held a very powerful aeon.

She could see him through the welcoming crowd through Grand Maester Mika and he could see her too. His icy blue eyes met her blue and green ones and she gasped as she felt a sharp icy lash across her spine. He nodded his head so lightly that she wasn't sure he did it at all. He trailed behind Grand Maester along with the other priests leaving her with fear beating in her heart.

She silently scolded herself. What did she have to fear from Maester Seymour Guado? He has offered her no violence and they both worked for the same goal, for the good and peace of Spira.

The fear and chill left her and she was able to forget the moment of fear she felt some Seymour Guado.

She had wanted to find Sir Auron for Tidus. Sure, it would have been nice to meet the man that had been her father's guardian. She hoped that finding Sir Auron would allow them to find Sir Jecht. Though, she did not tell this hope to Tidus for fear that this would make him angry.

However, during their search, she was taken.

It happened without anyone knowing and almost with her knowing also. While everyone was distracted by Khimari and the other two Ronso, she felt a sharp pain on the back of her neck and all she saw was darkness.

When she woke up, she could hear the familiar sound of the Al Bhed language that her mothers use to speak when she was upset or very happy. She couldn't understand them.

She was lying on a soft cot within a dark room. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the light and she was able to move around the room, however it seemed like the room was moving. She was on a boat and the thought scared her.

No, she was being taken away from her pilgrimage, away from her friends, away from Tidus . . .no, no.

She noticed a metal tray with food on a small table beside the cot she had been sleeping on. She snatched it up, not caring if the food spilled onto the floor and used it to bang on the door. She yelled at the top of her voice and sure enough someone came.

She used the tray to smash it to side of the Al Bhed's face mask and watch him stumble against the door frame. She shoved past him and toward up a very narrow and short hallway. There was a door ahead and she bolted toward it.

When she reached the door, she was grabbed from behind. She whipped around with the tray and smashed it again against the side of his head. He slid down unconscious and the door opened. She squinted her eyes from the glaring sun, and saw Lulu, Khimari, and Tidus there waiting for her.

During the game, she practiced whistling like Tidus had shown her during their ill-fated search for Sir Auron. To her shock, she managed to let out a shrill whistle just as Wakka managed to make the winning goal. She cheered along with the shocked audience and even Lulu was on her feet cheering too.

Then the fiends came and ruined the celebration, but she was able to see Seymour Guado's aeon. She could feel its power and pain fill the stadium and prickle along her skin. It finished off the fiends easily and with almost no expense of power. Seymour had to be powerful to summon such an aeon.

She wondered if Megatron and his group could have destroyed the fiends as quickly and efficiently as Anima.

When the fiends were taken care of and the people in the stadium were safe, Wakka said goodbye to the team and met her and Lulu at the steps that would lead them to them to the Mi'Hen Highroad.

She should have been happy and congratulating Wakka on his great success, but she was feared that since Tidus had found Sir Auron, that he would be leaving her pilgrimage. She started to feel panic that she would never see him again. She wanted to at least say goodbye before he left.

Before she could go search for him, both he and Sir Auron appeared. They became her guardians right there and then. And the next wonderful thing happened.

Yuna realized that she loved Tidus.

She felt so glad that Tidus was going with them on her pilgrimage that she felt playful and wanted to take away the frown he wore on his face. She taught him how to smile even when sad. She told him to laugh and he let loose this cawing that echoed across the courtyard that the balcony extended over. It was so loud and ridiculous sounding that she embarrassingly suggested he stop, but he gave her smile that made warmth and joy bloom inside her like a spring flower. She joined in his cawing and they both really laughed together.

In that moment, she realized it like a small blow to her heart that she loved Tidus. She loved him and wanted to laugh with him everyday. She always wanted to feel this spontaneous jolt of happiness all the time. She loved the way Tidus affected her with his boyish glee, his antics, and his joyful smile and laughter.

It also hurt her. She knew that her time with Tidus would end when she defeated Sin. It hurt her that she would never be able to tell him the wonderful feelings he evoked inside her soul. She would never be able to tell him that she loved him.

The closest she could come to telling him her feelings was, "If we should get separated, just whistle. I'll come running. I promise."

She was happy. Her father's old guardian, Sir Auron, was amongst her guardians as was Tidus, a person that made her happy and laughed no matter what.

It touched her when Tidus lightly hinted about his feelings toward during their conversation in front of the Al Bhed shop and it made her sad. She could never respond to him the way she wanted to. She was a summoner on a pilgrimage, it was her fate to destroy sin and die. She would not leave him behind loving her and without her. She would not be cruel to him in any way. But being near him made her smile inside.

The happiness ended when they came to Operation Mi'Hen.

* * *

Nothing could have prepared her for the events that led up to her being in the clutched of the Decepticons.

When they got to the end of the Mi'Hen High, the way was blocked by the Crusaders. They weren't even allowing summoners to pass through and it was considered breaking the law to inhibit a summoner on her pilgrimage.

However, Maester Seymour Guado came. He gave them admission onto Mushroom Rock Road. He was soft spoken, elegant, and spoke kindly, but for reason, she couldn't relax around him. It wasn't that he was a Maester, it was something else. Something in his eyes or the air around him that touched a nervous nerve in her mind and made her ill at ease.

Inside, it was even stranger. Crusaders and Al Bhed working together on a group operation to destroying Sin. All this with the full backing of the Maesters who was allowing them to use forbidden machina. Though she held nothing against machina, one of her aeons was a group of giant machina. However, something didn't bode well.

She hoped they would succeed, but she didn't want anyone to die. Unification between Al Bhed and Crusaders gave her a small light of hope.

_Yevon, please, if someone should die defeating Sin, let that person be me._

Sometimes, prayers can fall on deaf ears.

The weaponry of the Al Bhed and the Crusaders were awesome, but didn't stand a chance against the might that is Sin. They were vaporized in Sin's single attack.

The attack also separated her from the others. She watched with Maester Seymour Guado as the Al Bhed weapon was fired. It hit Sin's shield and Yuna watched it and hoped.

Sin repelled it easily and used the weapon's own power against itself. The explosion was intense and she could felt the heat backlash across her face from so far a distance. Screams reached her ears and tore at her heart.

She stood at the edge and held up her staff. Sin was retreating back . . .no, not retreating, Sin never retreated. It was finished with it's destruction and was leaving to find more untouched villages, homes, families to destroy and continue it's everlasting hunt for devastation. "Everyone, stand back! I'll summon!"

Seymour's cool voice touched her from behind as he had physically caught her shoulder to stop her. "You won't hurt it. Your powers are still . . .too weak."

A part of her mind told her what he said was true, but there a louder voice telling her to try. Her hands tightened around her rod and she bit her lip with determination.

"But I must do something!"

She raised her rod.

"You can't!" His voice cracked like a whip.

_I can._

* * *

It had been a few days, but Megatron was getting uneasy again. He had told the human to transport them back soon and he had worried that she would bring them back too soon before everything was ready. Now he worried whether she would transport them again or not.

What if she was killed? Humans terminated so easily and in so many ways with their fragile carbon base bodies. His plans ruined because of a little human dying. Blast it all.

He hated relying on a human. Hated it with a passion, but it couldn't be help . . .for now. Starscream made it known that he was happy not to no longer be at the beck and call of a human and he very much hoped she was dead.

Megatron brought his fist down on the console in a short fit of rage. Any Decepticon around him flinched and went about their duties so as not to come under his rage radar.

The energon they had converted from the pyreflies were numerous, but they wouldn't last forever and they were far from enough to awaken Cybertron let alone strengthen the Decepticon Army.

He needed more, he needed more pyreflies, and he needed that little fleshie to . . .

His hand was glowing. He jerked back shocked as the glow look his facial features usually dimmed by his helmet. He took on a wicked smile as the glow spread across his body.

Relief and relish flitted through his circuits as he stepped back from the console as he transported over.

* * *

Seymour nearly fell back as the giant robots appeared. Auron shouted something at the Summoner and drew his sword. Yuna's aeon? But how did she acquire aeons such as these?

The large silver one handed near Yuna, bent down, scooped her up in one hand, and rose off the ground. He flew back toward Mushroom Rock Road and his fellows followed him.

Seymour sniffed the air and knew that they were not Aeons at all. They held not the scent of the Farplane. They were something else.

"Interesting."

* * *

"Megatron, no, we have to go back." She called up to him from his hand. His fingers were closed around her keeping her from falling . . . or escaping.

He ignored her and found a rocky spot to land nearby. He landed and was followed by the others. They landed easily among the rocky terrain and all red optics were on their leader and the summoner. He set her on the ground and she stumbled before righting herself on her boots.

She turned angry eyes up to him and said, "Sin is back there."

"And we're here." Megatron snapped in a harsh tone startling her.

"Why are we here?" Chills were running up and down her spine and she didn't feel safe around her aeon at all.

"Yuna, you're going to forget about your pilgrimage. It ends now and so does your little suicidal desire. You'll die when I say you can die."

She took several steps back, her boots scuffed the rock at her feet, and wished silently that she hadn't summoned them at all. "I don't understand. What are you telling me?"

"Stupid human." Starscream muttered from his perch on a smooth rock. "Our 'might leader' is saying you belong to us."

Yuna swallowed a lump in her throat and stood her ground. "Not if I send you back and never summon you again."

"No one summons me, human." Megatron said in a voice full of steel.

Yuna began the ability to send them. Megatron waited. This was the most crucial moment for his plan to come to fruition. Just when he felt the pull backward from Spira, his hand shot out and curled it around Yuna's small body and took her back with him to Earth.


	5. Paradise Lost

A lot of action in this chapter.

What I like about Yuna that though she is the party's healer, soft spoken, kind hearted, selfless, and all around saint, she can kick ass with her aeons. She's more than meets the eye.

But so is the Decepticons. They kick ass too. Who will win? Aeon Vs. Decepticon, however keep in mind that at this point, Yuna has only received Valefor (her fave Aeon) and Ifrit.

While watching the G1 TF episode Make Tracks, I notice that Tracks's paintjob is almost the same shade of blue as Yuna's skirt.

* * *

Yuna felt nauseous from the wavering lights before her eyes. She closed them tightly and clutched tightly to Megatron's fingers to halt the world moving around. When it finally stopped and she lurched within his grip, she opened her eyes and saw that she was no longer on the Mushroom Rock Road.

She was within the biggest room she had ever seen and metal was everywhere. It was as if the whole room was made of metal. Where was she?

"Welcome to the Decepticon underwater base, human!" Megatron announced triumphantly.

She could see many other machina standing around, many that weren't about of her summons. "Megatron, what have you . . .done?"

"Silence." Megatron snapped at her. "You'll speak when spoken to, girl."

She flinched from his harsh voice and her next question died at her lips.

"Rumble, bring the chip and Soundwave be ready to scan her brain." Megatron never liked handling humans. He avoided it whenever possible and when he did he grabbed them by their shirts or jackets. It was all he could do to allow Sean Berger to sit in his cupped hands during his master plan. However, holding Yuna was like holding empty air and the sensors in his hand could barely detect the fine woven threads of her clothes. However, her obi was bunched against his palm.

Yuna pushed against his fingers across her stomach, but she might as well been trying to push a parked mobile home. She wasn't moving until he let her go. She looked down and she could see the small purple machina coming forward with a tray containing small bits of . . . she could tell from being this high up.

"If I remember right, one of these things go behind her ear." Rumble said. He had worked closely with Dr. Archeville during that infamous plot with the slaves.

Behind her ear? No, no, they were not going to put anything on her, nothing at all!

Her long ivory and pinks sleeves flapped against Megatron's fingers as he knelt to lower her to Rumble's level. "Quick, put the chip on her and . . ."

"Uh, boss, she's doing something." Rumble stepped away from the flare of light that erupted from Yuna.

Round signs and designs spun around Megatron's hand and Yuna.

"What is she doing?" Starscream panicked rearing himself against the far wall.

"What in Great Cybertron are you doing? Stop it!" He ordered her and would have shaken her or squeezed, but something dropped from the ceiling and smashed into him from behind.

He fell forward, his arm falling onto Rumble and pinning him to the floor. His hand opened and Yuna spilled out. Her legs and skirt were sprawled across his thick fingers and she kicked herself away from them. The control room reverberated from the angry scream of Valefor.

"Decepticons, destroy that creature!" Megatron yelled and it made the floor vibrate beneath. He pushed himself up, freeing Rumble, and reached out for her.

She vigorously kicked herself backwards, not daring to stop and push herself to her feet. Her boots kicked out at his fingertips till she was out of his reach. Meanwhile, shots were being fired at Valefor up above. The great bird dodged these attacks with ease, its movements almost a blur even to the optics of the Tranformers.

Yuna got to her feet in time to see Rumble coming for her. With a terrified scream, she turned and ran. "Help me!"

Valefor answered her cry for help by release her Energy Ray. It drew a line along the floor at the Decepticons' feet and the explosions that followed threw them asunder. Yuna's ears rang from the ear splitting sound of metal hitting metal as giant robots landed on each other or hit the far walls. Valefor swooped over the tossed Decepticons for her summoner.

Yuna stopped, Rumble had been knocked off his feet during the explosions, and Valefor landed near her. Her great wings brushed against Yuna's clothes and she gave a chirrup to the girl. Yuna needed no further encouragement. She quickly stepped around Valefor's wing and clambered onto the aeon's back. Valefor pumped its wings, its gold rings chiming, and lifted them off the floor.

Megatron had recovered and was shoving himself from the floor. He spotted Yuna and her creature lifting upward. "Get them!"

Valefor tilted her body backward, her front facing the ceiling, making Yuna wrap her arms around her long leg and cling to her with her legs around her waist. Yuna yelped as Valefor performed Sonic Wings, jerking her violently, but necessarily.

"No!"

The shock of intense air pierced through the ship's hull and water rushed in like a torrent. Yuna held her breath and Valefor shot upwards despite being showered with heavy water.

Megatron watched the key to his plans vanish in a water fall that was slowly covering the floor and splashing at his feet. "Get up, you fools! Get her and so help me, if she escapes, I WILL melt each and everyone of you down into scrap!"

* * *

The only thing that kept Yuna from panicking while Valefor's wings pumped through the water, taking them to the surface, was that she had great experience swimming and could swim well enough. Her lungs were about hurt from lack of air by the time Valefor broke through the surface.

Yuna gasped for air and Valefor left the water and carried them upward. Yuna gritted her teeth as the cool air touched her wet skin and her clothes clung to her like a second skin.

Valefor soared over the water and slowly caught a drift to carry them higher. Yuna pressed her face into the wet spikes of her aeon's neck and whispered, "Thank you for saving me."

Valefor made a small yip and Yuna hugged her tighter. Yuna lifted her head and looked around. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was sending Megatron and his cohorts back and he grabbed her . . .

She went back with him. But, that's impossible, you don't go back to . . .where ever it is that an aeon goes. However, that was the only explanation she could come to. What she wanted to know was there a way to go back to where she was? And where was she now?

She spotted land in the distance and Valefor was heading straight for it. Yuna sighed with deep relief, it would feel good to have her feet on solid ground and be able to think without running away from deranged machina.

She pushed her upper body up on her elbows, while keeping a careful grip on Valefor's scruff. Maybe she could see some familiar landscapes.

As it crept closer, Starscream zeroed in on them and shot.

Valefor screamed with pain and anger. She fell with Yuna riding her down. The girl screamed as her aeon dissolved out from under her and she fell and fell.

* * *

"Starscream, you FOOL!" Megatron roared and would have smashed his fist into Starscream's face if he was close enough. "Skywarp, catch her!"

* * *

Less than a mile away, on the same land that Valefor had been aiming before being shot by Starscream.

"Bumblebee, ya know what would make this a perfect day to the beach?" Spike said to the yellow Volks.

"No what?" The little car asked as he trailed behind the Porsche ahead of him.

"If the girls were here and not up there." Spike motioned to the Porsche ahead which carried Carly, her friend from high school, Ashley Morgan, and Blaster in his alt-mode.

"Sorry, Spike. I guess it's a human female thing." Bumblebee mused.

Spike leaned back in the seat. He was wearing blue swimming trunks and a white t-shirt with sandals. He could see Carly and Ashley laughing or singing through the back window of Jazz. Jazz was playing the music so loud that Spike could feel it vibrating his teeth.

Then a shriek ripped through the blaring music and brought Bumblebee and Jazz to a screeching halt. "What in Primus was that?"

Spike got out and Bumble transformed into his robot mode. Jazz and Blaster were already in their robot modes and scanning the horizon with Carly and Ashley by their feet.

Ashley had been Carly's best friend since elementary school. She had auburn hair and her face was lightly peppered with freckles. One thing that can be said about her, she sure changed during her year as a foreign exchange student to Europe. When she came back, her thick sweaters, huge glasses, and mousey hair was replaced with tight fitting leather pants, low cut t-shirts, a nose ring, and a heart shape tattoo on her right shoulder. And to top it all off, she came out of the closet.

Spike guessed that humans can transform too in the right circumstances.

"That sounded like a cat got put through a blender." Ashley said looking around. She was a tall figure with her bikini top and blue jean shorts.

Carly was overdressed compared to Ashley with her one piece suit and knee length shorts. "Gross."

"Quiet ya'll. I'm listenin'." Jazz said but very gently.

"Wait, do you see that?" Bumblebee pointed at something in distance.

"Decepticons. A lot of them." Blaster scanning for frequencies, but found nothing useful. "Where are they goin'?"

"Ya mean what they're after. Look!" He pointed and they all saw it.

Carly gripped Spike's arm as they saw the small figure of a human falling from a great height and about to hit the water.

_

* * *

She's falling, she's falling. She's going to hit the water and it was going to hurt her._

She did not hit the water, in fact, she hit metal instead. She was whipped up so far her head spun.

Skywarp had teleported and caught her just before she would hit the water. He lifted her up and waved her in the air showing off that he caught her. It made her dizzy and she had to hold tight to his fingers to keep from having her head snapped back and forth.

* * *

"Skywarp caught the person." Spike said relieved, but it was short lived. Whoever it was in Decepticon clutches, which he knew from his experiences was not a good place to be.

"I just sent a heads up to the others at HQ." Blaster said. "Optimus says to do what we can to save the human, but try not to get into a firefight with the Decepticons until they arrive."

"Then let's roll with style." Jazz transformed followed by Blaster who during his transformation slipped into the front seat of Jazz's passenger side

Bumblebee transformed, the driver side opened for Spike who climbed in and shut the door. He leaned out and said, "Carly, you and Ashley stay here and wait for the Autobots."

Carly hated being left behind, but she saw that Ashley's face was pale with fear. She had been around the Autobots for about a week and this could be her very first time coming into contact with the Decepticons. Carly had to suppose that being around giants robots that could kill you was pretty scary.

"Fine, but don't you get hurt." She clutched Ashley's arm and guided her to place they could hide and keep watch.

The Autobots rolled out toward the beach.

* * *

"Let go of me!" Yuna beat futilely at Skywarp's fingers.

"Nuthin' doin', fleshie. Ya already got Megatron's gears clogged, and ya don't need me mad too."

"I'm mad!" Yuna yelled and then she summoned.

"Uh-oh." Skywarp said when she began to cloth with red sigils and sudden warmth crept through his hand. "So help me, I'll squeeze you ti . . ."

Ifrit landed on his head and tore into his helmet. Skywarp yelled as his pain receptors flared to life and his hand convulsed, releasing Yuna. She fell into the water at a safer height and began paddling for the beach ahead. Being born on an island had its advantages. She knew how to swim well enough, but she wasn't as good as Wakka and the Aurochs.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw that Ifrit was still above water, clinging to Skywarp and tearing out strips of metal and the smell of burning wire and heated metal touched her nose. The other Decepticons were coming up fast.

She paddled as she thought of what she should do. If Ifrit hit the water, he may dissolve as Valefor has done. He was a fire aeon and water could harm him. If he left that she wouldn't have another aeon available until they recovered in her mind which could be hours.

She could dismiss him now and summon him again on land, but if she did that, the machina would surely catch her. She couldn't swim faster than they could fly. But, surely they would help their wound associate. That should buy her sometime.

She sent away Ifrit. Skywarp fell into the water creating a large wave that swept over Yuna and disoriented her for a second before she swam with all her might to shore.

* * *

Thundercracker dove down to grab his friend before he could sink below the surface. "It's alright, buddy. We'll get you repaired."

Skywarp had metal missing from his housing, a side of his helmet had been ripped away revealing wires and sparking parts. His paintjob was scorched and smoking from his chassis. His faceplate held long gouges, but he wasn't bleeding pink energon. Instead, small dying pyreflies flitted from the openings of his wounds.

"How bad does it look?" Skywarp asked and he spoke with static.

Megatron flew past with Starscream, Soundwave, and the Coneheads following close behind. Thundercracker watched them past by. Well, he wasn't given any orders about not taking Skywarp back to base.

"Bad, but repairable." Thundercracker assured him as he hefted him up into his arms. "Wait until I tell the others you got beat by a human girl."

* * *

She wasn't going to make it. She was stupid and foolish. It only took one of them to help their friend and the others could continue chasing her. Her skirt and sleeves hampered her swimming more than she thought. She dare not stop to take them off.

As Megatron's shadow appeared over her, she dove underwater, her legs kicking. His hand was closing around her . . .

Megatron was jerk back as he took a blast to the shoulder from Bumblebee's gun. Yuna slipped away and kept swimming.

"Blasted Autobots!" Megatron snarled with rage. "Get rid of them!"

Starscream, Soundwave, and the Coneheads happily obliged. Megatron stirred his hand in the water searching, but found nothing.

Yuna's head emerged not less than five feet behind Megatron. She watched him searching the water for her and her heart beat against her ribs.

_Don't turn around. Please, don't turn around and see me._

Going past Megatron was out of the question, but she couldn't turn around and swim back. She would have to go further down shore away from the machina.

There were more machina firing guns at Megatron's cohort and they were firing back. That didn't matter now. She needed to get out of there now.

She started to swim eastward and while doing so, she prayed to Yevon for guidance.

* * *

"Do ya see the human?" Jazz said checking his gun and then firing from behind a grouping of trees.

"No, I don't see anything but Decepticreeps." Bumblebee muttered returning fire.

"I know I saw her in the water." Blaster replied hiding behind an outcropping of rocks from a hill.

"We need to get out there. She's probably drowning right now while we blast away." Spike said from behind Jazz's foot. His eyes scanned the water beneath the Decepticons, but he saw nothing. No waving hands or splashing water, but Megatron was searching the water. Whoever this person was, Megatron was very determined to get her.

* * *

Megatron was getting frustrated and, he would never admit this, desperate. He couldn't find the wretched little human. If the Autobots get to her before them . . .

"Soundwave, send out the casseticons to search for the creature. We must get her back."

"As you command, Megatron." Soundwave stopped firing and pressed the button at his shoulder. "Eject: Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Ravage, Rumble, Frenzy. Function: search and retrieve."

The casseticons emerged from his open chest cavity and went out to do his bidding. Buzzsaw and Laserbeak scouted the water and Ravage, Rumble, and Frenzy flew out to the land.

* * *

Yuna pulled herself onto the rocky shore. Her sleeves and skirt weighed her down and she began to wonder if she had chosen a proper outfit for her pilgrimage. Well, she never thought she would be hunted by machina and have to swim for her life.

She wrung out her sleeves and her skirt while she stumbled over the rocks. Her legs ached from kicking so hard in the water and her arms felt like rubber. She needed to sit down and rest, collect herself, and think. Yet, she could hear the guns being fired not too far away.

She made herself continue forward while praying for strength from Yevon. She leaned against the trees whenever possible for a moments of rest, but it made it harder to continue each time she pushed away. She had to sit down. She had to rest.

She lowered herself to lean against a tree and caught her breath. She was cold, scared, tired, exhausted, and worse of all alone, with a bunch of thinking machina after her. She should have listened to Seymour when he tried to stop her. She had no right to go against him like that. Him, being a Maester of Yevon and her defying him. This must be her punishment.

She feared that she may never see her family again. Lulu, Wakka, Khimari. She would never learn more about her father from Sir Auron. And she would never see Tidus's smile or hear him laugh or laugh at his antics again.

Hot tears slid down her cheeks. She rubbed them again and sniffed her nose real hard. No, she couldn't cry now. She would meet up with them again, somehow. But not if she got caught again.

This thought gave her enough energy to get to her feet and continue on.

* * *

Blaster got a message that filled him with relief. "Guys, Tracks, Hound, and Beachcomber are on their way. They'll be here in five earth minutes."

"Great. Five more minutes of being shot at by Starscream." Bumblebee muttered. "Should we draw back?"

"The human might still be out there." Jazz said taking aim and almost nailing Ramjet's cockpit.

"We haven't been doing much helping her so far." Spike said.

"We're drawing back."

* * *

Yuna felt that she was making good progress away from the firefight. They were sounding more distant now, but she wondered why they were fighting. Were they fighting over her? If so, why? What did they want from her?

She heard a hiss like growl and turned to see metallic large cat with red eyes staring at her from the brush. She recognized it as a machina, but not one she had seen before. She spotted its shoulder and recognized the sign on its shoulder.

She stepped back. "You're one of them."

As if in reply, it snarled and stepped forward.

"Get away." She said very, very glad that she still had Ifrit available. If she had her rod, she would have raised it. "I'll summon."

Ravaged hissed and lowered his body to the ground, if his ears could, they would have laid flat against his head. It growled very angrily at her and its red optics flared.

Yuna stepped to the side slowly and carefully, her eyes never leaving the metallic cat. Then she heard grass being crunched behind her just in time for her to whip around, but not quick enough for Rumble to catch her lower arm.

"You ain't goin' anywhere." Rumble tightened his grip on her arm and she felt her skin bruise.

"Let go!"

"Not a chance."

She touched the part of her mind that held Ifrit, but his gripped tighten more and she whimpered instead. She couldn't concentrate for the pain.

"Can't do your shiny thing when you're hurtin', huh? Fine, I'll keep you hurtin'." She felt the bones in her arm creak and she yelped, dropping, only to be held up by Rumble's grip on her arm.

He was reaching for her other arm. She wrenched it behind her. She had to keep this arm free for . . .for anything. What can she do with one arm?

A cure spell? Yes, but . . .yes.

Rumble was pulling her upward and leaning forward to grab her other arm from her behind her back.

"I can still summon!" She yelled and raised her free arm before he could snag it. She cast a cure spell on herself.

When Rumble saw the glow, he panicked and practically threw Yuna away from himself. She landed on her back, the wind knocked out of her. As she relearned to breath, a dark face with red optics growled into her face.

She gasped and rolled away. She forced herself into a standing position and backed into a tree as Ravaged approached her snarling.

She summoned Ifrit.

It burst through the earth in a torrent of heat and fire. She stood back around the tree as blades of grass caught fire.

"Oh, no." Rumble moaned.

Ravage hissed at Ifrit and lunched for him. Ifrit easily knocked Ravage aside with its awesome claws and let loose a snarl of rage at the robo-cat.

"Waitaminute. Dis one can't fly like the other one." Rumble said as his arms turned into pile-drivers. They punished the ground, breaking the earth apart.

Yuna could only turn and run as the earth opened and Ifrit fell into the gully. It managed to grip the edge and haul itself upward, but Rumble rushed forward and used his gun. He shot point-blank into Ifrit's face four times before the aeon dissolved into pyreflies.

* * *

"Wait, did you hear that?" Hound came to a halt in his car mode.

Beachcomber transformed into robot mode. "Sound like that little rumble called Rumble breaking dirt."

"Blaster did say that the Decepticons were after a human."

"I'll go." Tracks said as he turned toward the sound of the rumbling. "The sooner we find this human, the faster we can get out of this forest. I think I got sap on my hood."

"I'll look with you." Beachcomber transformed back into car. "I can find my way through these woods faster than you."

"I guess I'll meet up with the others." Hound separated from them and they headed in different directions.

* * *

Rumble laughed as he watched the firey creature dissolved into the glowing bugs. He turned and saw that Yuna was gone, again. Slag, this human was more trouble than all the human they ever encountered put together. Maybe except Spike and Chip, but the girl was a close second.

He radioed Soundwave, alerting him that the girl has been spotted, but not apprehended.

* * *

"Megatron, the human is on the land." Soundwave reported.

"Do they have her?" Megatron demanded.

"Negative."

Megatron's optics flared red. He had selected each of the Decepitcons under his command for their strength and special abilities, and they couldn't catch one little female human! One little human has escaped, literally, out of his clutches and had managed to stay one step ahead of him . . .but that ends now.

"Cease fire! We're going to the forest for her. If any Autobot tries to stop up, destroy them."

"But Megatron, we have them cornered!" Starscream wailed.

"Obey me, Starscream!" Megatron snarled as he flew past Starscream throwing him a venomous look. "Decepticons, tear this forest apart if you have to, but find that girl!"

* * *

"Whoa, did you hear that?" Bumblebee said as the Decepticons flew overhead. They ducked for cover incase any shots were made from overhead, but none came surprisingly.

"He's mad and determine." Spike said. "I wonder what he could want with this girl?"

"What else?" Jazz said getting to his feet and sending his weapon back into subspace. "Power, energy, weapons, and whole lot of bad stuff we don't want him to have."  
"Means we gotta find this girl before Megatron gets his nasty mitts on 'er." Blaster said and radioed the backup of what was happening.

* * *

She ran until she stumbled over a rock and caught herself on her hands and knees when she fell. She clumsily kicked till she was on her feet again. Her arm was sore, but thanks to her cure spell it was a lot better than it was before. However, it was going to sport a bruise.

When will it end? She felt like she's been running away from these things for hours with one fright after another. By the time she got out of this she would be an old woman. No wonder summoners needed guardians.

She caught a low hanging branch to keep from falling down for what could be the twentieth time that day. Her body was still recovering from shock, fear, and the long swim she took, not to mention her encounter with Rumble and Ravage.

She shoved herself away from the branch and continued forward. She halted when she saw a blue color through the trees. She stared long and hard at it. Was it another machina? It looked like it was made of metal.

She pressed herself against a large oak and stared with bated breath. It wasn't moving, and there was no sounds coming from it. She went closer, ready to bolt the second it moved. As she drew nearer, she recognized it as a vehicle. She had never seen such a vehicle before, but she knew what it was from what her mother had described to her when she was a child.

The vehicle was blue with a nice looking sleek design. Yuna had no experience with cars whatsoever, but she could tell that it was made to go very fast. On the front was a red face like signia.

She sighed with deep relief. If there was Al Bhed around, then they would surely help her. Even though they kidnapped her at Luca, they were still preferable to Megatron. But where were they? The vehicle was shiny as if it just been polished so couldn't have been abandoned and someone was sure to come back.

She headed for it. It was risky, but she would have to stay with the machina until the owner comes back. Or maybe there was a communicator that her mother also told her about inside. She could use it to call for help, but she couldn't fluently speak Al Bhed. Well, they should understand if someone is in distress like she is.

As she broke through the trees and approached the car, she thought amusingly that its blue paint color almost matched the color of her skirt. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who thought so.

Before she could touch the driver's door to see if she could get it open a deep, smooth voice said, "Nice paint job on the skirt, though I think it could do without the flowers."

"Who said that?" She spun around, looking for the owner of the voice. "Who's there?"

"I'm here." The voice replied.

She turned back to the blue vehicle and backed away. "You . . .you're the . . .machina?"

"Machina? I don't know what that means, but I can assure you that I'm a Transformer." Tracks transformed nearly shocking the laugh out of the girl.

"You're one of them!" She backed away, her back hitting a tree, her obi crushed against her spine.

"Wait, don't be afraid." Tracks held his hand out toward her, palm up. "I'm and Autobot, not a Decepticon, see?" He tapped his Autobot signia with his other hand. "We're nothing like them."

"But, you're a machina." Yuna stepped behind the tree, keeping it between herself and Tracks.

"Machina? I'm telling you that I'm a Transformer from Cybertron."

"Stay away." Yuna said, her nails digging into the bark. "I . . . I don't know what you want from me . . . but I . . ."

"Whoa, hold on. You're thinking about Megatron and his cohorts. I'm not with them." Again he tapped the signia on his chest.

Yuna looked at the red mark and had to silently admit that it was different from the one Megatron bore on his chest. Yet, how did she know she was out of the frying pan and heading straight into the fire with this machina?

She flinched when he stepped forward. He groaned and said, "Look, I got a call from Blaster. Megatron and his pals are heading into the forest, this forest. If we stay here, he's sure to find you. Surely, you'd rather come with me, than go with him?"

He had her there. Yuna licked her lips and said, "I'll go with you, but I do not trust you."

Tracks inwardly sighed. He transformed into his car-mode and said, "Hop in."

His driver side door opened and Yuna hesitated before walking forward. She eased into the seat and couldn't help, but feel relieve in her sore legs and muscles in areas that she didn't know had muscles. The door shut beside her and she started when two railings with a bar linking them came down over her shoulders.

"Don't worry, it's just restraints incase I have to do some fancy driving."

Yuna took a deep breath as the restraints settled on her shoulders. "Where will you take me?"

"Somewhere safe. I'm going to tell the others I have you safe and sound and then we can get out of here before I get another atrocious scratch on my paintjob. Those bushes are sharp."

She didn't know whether he was being serious or was trying to make a joke. He started off and she gasped as she rode for the very first time in a motor vehicle. He passed trees and gave bushes a good berth. He must have been serious about the bushes after all.

"Alerting all Autobots. I have the human. She's with me right now and we're on our way to Autobot base."

Yuna wondered who he was talking to, but gasped when a strange voice replied back. "Dynomite, Tracks! We'll rendezvous with you there. Optimus sez that Skyfire is on his way to get us."

"Wait, won't Megatron know that we have her if we all leave the forest?"

"No problem. Hound wants ta meet ya so he kin getta look at . . .at . . .what's her name?"

There was a pause and she embarrassingly realized they were waiting for her to introduce herself. She wasn't sure what she should speak into, so she leaned toward the dashboard and said loud and clear. "My name is Yuna from the Isle of Besaid."

"Ookay, Yuna Isle of Besaid. My man, Hound's, gonna take a look at you so's he kin make some holograms of you ta keep Mega-dumb from messin' with you till we get you safe."

Yuna couldn't help, but chuckle softly into her hand. If anything, this voice was like a soothing balm on her taunted nerves. It was light, very friendly sounding, likable, and very confident as if all they were doing was playing a game and not in a life or death struggle. It made her relax for the first time since she got into this mess.


	6. Paths

Things I noticed:

Spike is a flirt. After meeting Carly in The Immobilizer, he has flirted or attempted to woo two different girls. The Princess from a Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court and The Girl who Loved Powerglide.

Also, in the Immoblizer; of all the things that Megatron does, nothing freaks me out more than when he watched Carly drown with a sick smile on his face. If she had been a lifelong enemy, then I would understand how he would enjoy watching her die, but Carly was a newcomer. Someone he just happen to want to use against his enemies. It was scary to me the way he smiled as Carly desperately fought to stay above water.

It reminded me of that movie, The Cell. Where this serial killer kidnaps women and seals them up in these airtight rooms and video tapes them drowning as the room fills up with water. Maybe the episode inspired the movie.

Another note, did anyone notice at how Megatron gets a lilt in his voice whenever he is trying to be charming or convince someone that he is there ally when he's really planning on backstabbing them?

* * *

"He sounded nice." Yuna commented folding her hands neatly on her lap.

"Oh, he's Jazz. He's friendly enough, but can be really loud." Tracks said as he carefully navigated around another bush.

"So . . .what is the difference between you and the . . .Decepticons?" Yuna asked, wishing to understand about these strange machina.

"Well, for starters we're the good guys and they're the bad guys."

"It . . .I'm sorry . . .but . . .that doesn't answer my question." Yuna said hesitantly. "You're machina and they're machina."

"Machina, that word again? What does that word mean?"

"I'm sorry . . .the old word for it is machine." Yuna clutched her hands tightly on her skirt.

"Machine? Strange way of saying machine." Tracks kept as close to the trees as he could manage without fear of ruining his finish on the harsh bark of the trunk. He wanted to use the branches for cover.

He halted when Hound appeared along a path through a thicket. Yuna almost didn't see him at all, his green paintjob almost blended perfectly among the green surroundings. The restraints lifted off her shoulders and the driver's door opened.

The green vehicle transformed into a tall green machina person as she climbed out. She backed away and Tracks transformed and a thought occurred to her. "What's a hologram?"

Both Transformers looked at each other confused. Tracks gave Hound a shrug and Hound looked down at Yuna and said, "It'll be better if I show you."

He pressed a switch near his shoulder and there was a flash of light. She was shocked to see herself standing in front of her. It, herself, move as if looking around with a frighten look on its, her face.

"It's . . .it's like sphere." Yuna said amazed. "You're able to produce memories without a sphere?"

Hound again looked confused and said, "You're not from this planet, are you?"

"Planet?" Yuna stared up at him, her turn to be confused. "I don't understand."

"Does the planet Earth mean anything to you?" Tracks asked and Hound turned off the hologram and the false Yuna vanished.

Yuna shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I still don't understand."

"You're on another planet. Do you know the name of your world?" Hound asked gently. He lowered himself to kneel so he could be closer to her level.

"Of course, Spira." Yuna said with a dreading feeling rising in her chest.

"You're not on Spira anymore. You're in another world."

Yuna felt as if ice water was being slowly dripped into her veins. No, this wasn't possible. Yet, she remembered when she tried dismissing Megatron and his group, he had grabbed her, and then she was in a different place. When she sent him back, he had grabbed her and brought her back with them.

Ever since, she met Sir Jecht, she had been curious of there possibly being other worlds and she had imagined going to them when she was a child. More so now when she had met Tidus and discovered he was from another time and place. But now to actually experience it for herself terrified her.

"How . . .how do I get back?" Yuna said fighting to keep the tremble from her voice.

"How did you get here?" Hound asked her. "And what does Megatron want with you?"

"I don't mean to cut the conversation, but what's the plan, Hound? Decepticons are hunting as we speak?" Tracks shifted his feet and looked agitated.

Hound looked up at Tracks and pushed himself to his feet. "The Decepticons have the area forest area surrounded and are doing an inward sweep. The plan is for me to draw them with my holograms, making a break in the sweep circle. You, Jazz, and Beachcomber will get her to safety and rendezvous with Skyfire not at the town, but at a nearby mountain range." Hound pointed to a green which can be seen in the distance. "We have too many humans to risk trying to board him while under fire, so we're going to try it this way."

"Oh no. Rocks, tall grass, and more rocks." Tracks bemoaned imaging all the dents and scratches that would happen to his chrome.

"I'm sorry." Yuna said stepping forward. "I'm the cause of this danger. Aren't I?"

"No, no, you're not the one firing at us." Hound said raising his hands. "By the way, what's your name?"

Again, Yuna flushed. She was raised to have better manners than this, but it could be considered understandable because of the situation. She formed the Prayer of Yevon with her arms and hands and bowed deep. "My name is Yuna from the Isle of Besaid."

If Hound and Tracks could, they would have blushed from the very formal and graceful bow Yuna performed for them. They weren't sure of how to respond until Tracks stepped forward and said, "I'm Tracks from Iacon on Cybertron and he's Hound from the same place too."

"I better get going. Blaster, Spike, and Bumblebee are waiting for me." Hound transformed. "You'll meet up with Jazz, the girls, and Beachcomber a mile east from here. Good luck."

Yuna felt guilt well up inside her. He didn't say it, but this machina was actually risking himself to grant her passage into safety and he wasn't the only one. They weren't even her guardians. She formed again the Prayer of Yevon, but performed it by crossing her wrists in the air and sweeping them downward to form a sphere in her hands at her chest and bowed deeper than she did last time. "May be the Blessing of Yevon be with you and keep you safe."

Hound, in his vehicle mode, and Tracks looked at each other; again not sure of how to respond to the formality. Hound could only think to say, "Uh . . .thanks for the blessing, Yuna. I'll see you soon."

As he rolled away, Yuna felt embarrassment as her cheek turned pink as she slipped out of her bow. "I . . .I didn't mean to make him uncomfortable."

"Usually we just say good luck and leave it at that." Tracks replied and then transformed. "Hop in."

Yuna got back inside Tracks and this time wasn't afraid when the restraints came down gently on her shoulders. Tracks started off, except changed his direction to head eastward direction. He still gave bushes their space and kept to the cover of the branches. Yuna started to notice that the shadows were longer and that the sun was in the west beginning it descent in the horizon.

How long has she been out here running away from the Decepticons? What was the others doing right now? Did they survive Sin's attack at Operation Mi'Hen? They weren't dead, she felt it in her heart that they were all alive and well, but what worried her was imagine them looking for her and not finding her. They must surely think that she had died.

What was Tidus thinking? Was he looking for her now?

She had to stop thinking like that. Think of something else, anything else. "Tracks, I . . .you haven't had a chance to answer my question."

"What question?"  
"What makes the Autobots different from the Decepticons." Yuna said shifting in her seat. "You said that the Autobots are good and the Decepticons are evil. What makes that so?"

"For one thing, the Decepticons are always going around stealing energy, blowing things up, shooting at humans, shooting at us, and all sorts of trouble. We're the ones that have to stop them."

"So you are at war with them?"

"Yes, for millions of years."

Yuna hugged herself. Spira hasn't experience a war for a thousand years. It was the reason Spira was being punished with Sin.

"Now it's my turn to ask you a question." Tracks said interrupting her thoughts. "Why are the Decepticons after you?"

Yuna thought for a second and replied, "I don't know."

"Are you sure?" Tracks insisted as he climbed uphill.

Before Yuna could answer, two new vehicles sidled up on either side of Tracks. One was black and white and was similar to Tracks's design, but the other one was blue and white and oddly shaped with large wheels.

"What's happenin'?" The black and white vehicle greeted in the same friendly voice that had spoken to her over the radio. Inside him were two girls her age. One was blond and the other had auburn hair.

It felt so good to see other human faces. They were waving at her and she waved back. Then to her shock the glass window was sliding downward into the door itself. The same was happening to the black and white car.

The blonde hair girl leaned out the window and shouted, "Hey! My name is Carly and this is Ashley! This big guy here," she tapped the edge of the door, "is Jazz and the blue and white one over there is Beachcomber."

"Heard you've been having some Decepticon trouble." The blue and white buggy said in a long drawling voice.

"Uh, yes." Yuna replied and notice they were picking up speed. "My name is Yuna."

"So what's the Decepticreeps been up to?" Carly shouted through the window, almost leaning out of it.

"Uh . . .they tried to put some sort of chip on me." Yuna feeling more comfortable. "And they wanted do something . . .called a brain scan?"  
"Oh, man! Sound like they were gonna give ya the works, honey." Jazz cawed as he jumped a small hill sending the girls within him gasping and laughing.

"He means it. Spike's dad got a mind control chip, and Chip Chase had his brain scanned by Soundwave." Carly said clutching the edges of the window. "Me, they put me in a room and happily watch me watch me almost drown!"

"So they have. . .kidnapped people before?" Yuna asked.

"Anyone they think is useful to them." Carly replied. "Spike has been captured by them more times than he cares to remember." She grinned mischievously at Yuna, "Not that he had a use, he's just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Carly, that's your boyfriend you're talking about!" Ashley giggled.

"Yeah, and you know one time I was waiting for him to pick me up for a movie and he called me telling me he wasn't going to make it because he and Bumblebee had infiltrated a Decepticon secret hideout and been captured. He was asking me to wait up for him incase the Autobots save him from certain death, and then I hear this loud voice say, "Slaggit, the human has a radio!" Then crunch. Spike showed up with a rented movie, a pizza, and his arm in a sling."

They broke down in squeals of laughter and Yuna found herself joining them. She laughed so hard, her sides hurt. It was the release of the tension on her nerves and mind to laugh so hard. It felt strange to laugh about someone being chased by Decepticons when they were right now being hunted by Decepticons while they laughed.

* * *

The Decepticons were not laughing. They were hunting.

"I say set the forest on fire and see what runs out." Starscream stated his opinion on the subject.

"Shut up before I set you on fire, Starscream." Megatron growled. He had to silently admit it sounded like a satisfactory idea, but he couldn't risk it. Yuna was human, she can terminate easily especially in a forest fire.

They had formed a large ring around the area of the forest and were closing in. He could hear the blast as trees were shot out the way and knocked out of the way.

They were slowly closing, what the humans would call, the noose.

* * *

At this same time, Hound met up with the rest of his group. Spike had been sitting on the grass and listening to the sound of blasted trees coming closer and closer. He stood straight as Hound pulled up and transformed.

"Did you get the hologram?" Bumblebee asked.

"Sure did. See for yourself." Hound turned the hologram on and a life size image of Yuna appeared.

"Whoa!" Spike stepped closer to the Yuna hologram. "She's . . .she's great."

"Careful, Spike, don't forget about Carly." Blaster reminded him. "So what's the plan?"

"Group 1 is heading toward the mountain where they'll meet Skyfire. We're to lead the Decepticons in the opposite direction."

"Spike, stop drooling over the hologram. She isn't real." Bumblebee chided.

* * *

"I guess we gotta climb." Jazz said as they approached a very steep and rocky hill at the base of the mountain.

"Won't that be risky? I mean, the Decepticons might be able to spot us." Carly said concerned.

"That's why we're gonna wait until Hound and tha guys draw those creeps away." Jazz opened his front doors and the girls got out.

Tracks opened his door and Yuna climbed out. The girls stared at each other's outfits. Carly and Ashley took in the blue and green eyes, long sleeves, the skirt, the long blue earring, and the obi while Yuna too in their jean shorts and Ashley's tattoo.

"Are you from Asia?" Ashley asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know the place." Yuna said. "I'm from Spira."

"You're from another planet?" Carly said shocked. "But you look so human!"

"I am human." Yuna replied. "What else would I be?"

"An alien like them for one." Carly motioned to the Transformers. "They're from a planet called Cybertron."

"So Yuna, help us out and tell us what Mega-dumb wants from ya." Jazz said.

Yuna shook her head. "I honestly don't know. I got away before I could find out."

"Okay, what is it you do?" Jazz tried another tactic.

"What I do?" Yuna felt better that she could answer one question. "I'm a summoner."

There was a long moment of silence and then Beachcomber broke it. "What's a summoner?"

Though Yuna already figured that they wouldn't know, it was still shocking to hear that question. "I . . .A summoner is someone with the ability to summon aeons and perform sendings."

Another long silence. This time it was Tracks who broke it. "What's an aeon and a sending?"  
"Heads up, folks, we gotta move. Hound and his troops are at it." Jazz pointed in the distance and they could make out Decepticons flying in the distance.

Jazz bent down and scooped up Carly and Ashley in each hand and settled them on his shoulders. "Hold on tight, girls, this time the ride won't be as smooth."

Tracks bent forward and held his hands out to Yuna. She swallowed and stepped between his hands and he lifted her up and settled her on his shoulder.

"Be sure not to get scuff marks on my finish." Tracks said.

"I'll try not to." Yuna assured him as she placed a hand on his helmet and the other on his wing to steady herself.

"Stellar, Tracks, now you got smooth flowers on your paintjob." Beachcomber grinned.

Yuna looked at her skirt and sure enough it had blended into Tracks's paintjob and the white flowers stood out like stars in the night sky.

"Honestly, Beachcomber, flowers aren't my thing." Tracks grunted as he followed Jazz up over the rocks.

* * *

Ramjet flew over the trees scanning his optics over the tops to see the forest floor. It would be so easier just to set the forest on fire and see what runs out, but no, can't have anything bad happen to Megatron's pet human.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he saw something blue dash between the trees. He fired his gun into the air signaling the others and followed it.

* * *

"There! There!"

Megatron looked up to see a signal shot fired into the sky. He accelerated his flight and headed from where the signal originated from followed by Starscream and Soundwave.

* * *

"They're falling for it." Spike whispered as Bumblebee rolled behind Hound.

Before they could begin their mission, they had to cover Bumblebee's alt mode with branches and pushes in order for him to have camouflage to fool the Decepticons. The branches scratched and covered the windows. Spike had to sit high on his seat and crane his neck to see through the windshield.

"Yeah, thankfully it's Ramjet and he's not too bright." Bumblebee whispered back.

"How far do we lead them away?" Spike asked.

"I don't know. At least until the others get to Skyfire."

"How do _we _get to Skyfire?"

There was a long pause and Blaster, who was in his alt-mode in the passenger seat, said, "I hadn't really thought that far ahead."

"Oh no!" Spike moaned.

* * *

The Decepticons flew in a small 'swarm' after the fleeting blue figure. That didn't last very long for that Megatron paused in flight.

Yuna was a young human, but there was no way she could run as fast as she was through the trees and where were the Autobots? They were so infatuated with humans they would surely be doing everything they could to see them away from a human. Unless . . .

Megatron looked in the opposite direction of where they were going and saw a mountain. He enhanced the scopes inside his optics until he could make out figures climbing up the mountain.

"Decepticons! We're being tricked! Head for the mountain!"

"But Megatron! She's right there!" Starscream fired his gun into the trees and was answered by tires screeching and a loud shattering crash.

"See, you idiot!" Megatron snarled at his Air Commander. "Change direction and head for the mountain."

* * *

"Oooohhhh." Spike moaned as he laid his cheek against Bumblebee's steering wheel. "What happened?"

"Hound came to a screeching stop in front of me. I wasn't able to stop in stop and rear ended him hard enough to send Blaster through my windshield and now he's sprawled out on top of Hound."

Spike lifted his head and felt nausea hit him in waves. He laid his head back down, but he did see a large red robot face down on top of a green jeep.

"I feel like Devestator just tap dance on my head." Blaster moaned.

"Is everyone alright?" Hound asked. "Blaster, buddy, can you get off?"

"Sorry, man." Blaster rolled off and got to his feet. "No damages here."

Hound slowly transformed and checked himself. "I'm not 100 percent, but I'm okay."

"Spike, are you okay?" Bumblebee asked.

"I . . .I don't know. I hit my head pretty hard." Spike lifted his head and became nauseous again, but not as bad as before. His vision blurred for a few seconds and then he groaned. "Guys, I think I got a concussion."

"Oh, no." Bumblebee muttered. "We need to get you to a doctor."

"No, no, I'm fine." Spike muttered. "The nausea is getting better. As long as I don't arm wrestle Astrotrain or Starscream, I should be fine."

""Oh slag!" Hound yelled when he looked into the distance. "They caught on! They're going for the mountain!"

"I'm warning them now." Blaster sent out the message.

* * *

"Jazz, Jazz, do you read me?" Blaster's voice croaked on Jazz's radio.

"I hear ya, man." Jazz replied. They had passed the rocks and were making it up a not too steep incline. Carly and Ashley were still perched on Jazz's shoulders and Yuna on Tracks.

"The plan failed. The Decepticons saw right through it and are comin' for ya. We suffered some minor damages, but we're on our way."

"Slag." Jazz muttered. "We can handle it till you get here." What made it worse was that Skyfire still hadn't arrived. "Okay, change of plan. Girls, you go with Tracks. He's the fastest, plus he kin fly ya'll out of a tough spot. Beachcomber and I are gonna draw their fire. The others on their way, they'll get here when they get here, but the Decepticons are gonna get here first." Jazz lifted the girls from his shoulders and passed them over to Tracks who held each one on each arm.

Yuna shook her head. "No, you. . .no, let me off and I'll stay. You go on. It's me they want. I don't want anyone to get hurt protecting me."

"Yuna, don't worry about us. We tangled with these jokers more times than I care to remember." Jazz assured her. "Skyfire will be here soon, we jes gotta hold 'em off till he gets here."

Yuna still didn't feel convinced. She wished with all her might that she still had her aeons available to help, but it would be a few hours before Valefor or Ifrit were strong enough for her to summon. She felt a touch on her shin and she looked down to see Carly touching her leg.

"Don't worry. They've been in worse situations than this. They pull through somehow."

"Tracks, get goin'. They're comin'."

"Roger." Tracks started up the mountain, but at a hurried speed. Yuna held tight to his wing and helmet. She looked over her shoulder at Jazz and Beachcomber, guns out and waiting for the enemy.

Her thought crossed Luzzu. She remembered the moment before he went to join the troops to battle Sin. She had tried to stop him, begged him not to go. It was her job to die to defeat Sin. She was the summoner, it was her duty, her desire, her wish, and her privilege to die giving Spira the Calm.

_Let him go. The man has already chosen his path... As you did_ _when you became a summoner._ Auron had reminded her that her choice to die to defeat Sin was not only hers to make. She wasn't anyone special despite being the daughter of Lord Braska. She was a statistic of people willing to die for Spira. She did not hold the sole right of martyrdom. Yet, it hurts. It hurt her to see so many die needlessly while her death would ensure years without Sin. These two, Jazz and Beachcomber, had chosen their paths as Auron would say. They chose to risk their lives to protect her and _they only just met her. _They did not truly know who she was and what she was. They did not know of her important quest or purpose in Spira, yet they were still willing to get between her and powerful group of Decepticons. She prayed to Yevon for their safety and that no one would ever die protecting her.

* * *

The Decepticons flew low over the upslope of the mountain, but Jazz was waiting. As they passed overhead, he burst out of the pile of stones he and Beachcomber collected and put his speakers' volume up all the way. The music tore into the Decepticons circuits, fazing out their radar, and even secondarily blinding them.

* * *

"You hear that?" Blaster whispered from Bumblebee's passenger seat with a seatbelt securely fastened around his alt-mode. "Sound's like Jazz."

"So we're either really close, or he has that music up really loud." Hound said thoughtfully. "More likely the latter."

Though Spike had always liked Jazz's music, this time, he would have given anything to throw those speaks off a bridge. The barrage of sound was marching through his ears and waging war on his brain.

It wasn't just his head that hurt. When Blaster broke the windshield with his body, glass had gone everywhere. There were small nicks on his fingers and jawline. He considered himself very lucky not have one flown into his eyes.

* * *

"What is that?" Yuna looked over her shoulder at the blaring ruckus down below.

Carly and Ashley answered together at the same time. "Jazz!"

* * *

"Okay, I think now is the time for me to transform." Tracks said as he knelt and set the girls in his arms on the grass. Yuna was soon too set on her feet in the grass. Tracks transformed and opened his doors. The passenger seat flipped forward revealing two backseats. Yuna climbed into the back and the seat flipped backwards. Carly and Ashley got into the front and the restraints lowered over their shoulders. "Hold on tight incase I have to gas it."

With that Tracks reared up the engine and pushed forward up along the mountaing path.

Megatron put a stop to Jazz's music. He raised his cannon and fired. Jazz only had time to fire up his engine and lunge forward out of the way. He had to keep going downhill lest he get hit by the following shots from Megatron's cannons.

Jazz leapt up and changed into his robot self and returned fire. Megatron growled with frustration at the day as he dodged the shots. Then he was struck from behind by Beachcomber who had been hiding

Wait, he had seen three figures. Unless the third one is in hiding for a third sneak attack . . .

"Starscream, stay here and destroy these two. Soundwave, you come with me. The rest of you . . . follow Starscream until I say otherwise." Megatron passed overhead followed by Soundwave toward the mountain's summit.

"No, you don't!" Beachcomber fired at their retreating figures, only to get hit by a null-ray,

"Yes, they can." Starscream relished.


	7. Recovery

This chapter contains two more jokes based of Tracks and Yuna's skirt.

AerialBots

and a pissed off Megatron

* * *

"Slag." Tracks grunted as he caught sight of Megatron and Soundwave could be seen in the distance. "Hold on."

Wings flipped from his sides and Yuna felt her body being tilted backwards and then the sky got closer. She looked out the window and saw that they were flying. She looked through the back window and saw Megatron and Soundwave behind them.

"We're gonna die . . ." Ashley whimpered from the front.

"No, don't say that." Carly said touching her friend's hand. "We're not going to die. Megatron is not going to fire at Tracks because he knows that Yuna is inside with us. We're going to be fine, just fine."  
But Yuna could hear the fear lacing the back of her voice. It was as if she was telling herself that more than she was telling Ashley. Guilt eroded her. It was her fault that Ashley and Carly were scared. Yuna was beginning to regret escaping the first time.

"Tracks, please, land and let me out." Yuna said leaning forward to speak to the dashboard. "They'll come after me. You get Carly and Ashley somewhere safe!"

"No going." Tracks replied ascending higher. He had no choice, but to fly off the mountain and the green of the trees below swept beneath them. He could land and use the trees for cover. "Jazz would have my transistors if I did that."

"Please, Tracks, I will never forgive myself if anyone got hurt protecting me!" Yuna dug her fingers into the soft felt of the head cushion behind Ashley's head. "You just met me, you don't need to die to protect me!"

_It's my job to die . . ._

"Yuna, it's okay." Carly said touching her hand. "We have to protect you. Megatron wants something from you and if he gets it, then he'll use it to hurt others. So in a way, we're protecting ourselves by keeping you away from him."

"You . . .you don't understand . . . "

Tracks lurched to the right and the girls shrieked as they were thrown to the right side of their restraints. Soundwave had taken aim at Tracks's left wing and Tracks had to tilt over to dodge it, almost going sideways.

He righted himself, but had to drop several feet to duck under another shot. They were trying to force him down where they would have the advantage. They targeted his wings; force him to land. Alright a choice: He could land with his wings intact for later possible use or crash without his wings.

It was going to rough. The branches are sure to reek havoc on his beautiful paintjob.

He began to descend.

A black shape burst through the foliage of the trees right in front of him.

Laserbeak. The spy fired.

Tracks didn't have time to react, much less do anything to evade the attack.

His wings chipped and broke off in pieces as both Laserbeak and Soundwave fired at them.

A trap, a slagging trap.

"HOLD ON!"

He did what he could to slow the fall, but he was too close to the ground when he lost his wings.

The girls screamed as he smashed through the thick branches. His windows shattered, the branches weren't just scratching his paintjob, they were denting his hull. He hit a particularly large branch at a high speed, causing him to roll till he landed on his side with a very loud crunch.

* * *

"Holy shit!" Spike yelled as his eyes followed Tracks going down through his binoculars. "Dammit, I think Carly and Ashley was in there!" His blood turned to ice in his veins when he saw Megatron and Soundwave going down to collect their prize.

"We got to get over there." Bumblebee said as he accelerated.

"I can get there faster." Hound sped forward. "I'm not as damaged as you."

"Hurry!" Spike said feeling his heart pounding against his ribs. He felt that Megatron wouldn't intentionally harm Yuna anymore than necessary, but he could kill Carly and Ashley without a second thought.

* * *

Megatron knelt over the smashed car that was Tracks. Tracks was on one side amongst broken branches and broken glass. Megatron was pleased to see streamers of energon leaking from gashes in the chrome.

He promptly ripped off the door and Tracks, who had been silent, cried out. Megatron tossed the door aside and looked inside. There were three human females and one of them was the one he wanted. He also saw that the yellow haired human that was often seen with the Autobots was there. She was holding her head and moaning softly, she was in the way.

He flipped up the restraints with a finger and hauled Carly out by the arm. She yelped as her head banged on the edge of the door and he casually dropped her off to the side. The second human was one he hadn't seen before. She was huddled against the door or one should say the ground. She was clutching her bleeding arm and was whimpering almost incoherently.

"_I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die."_

He flipped the driver's seat forward with a finger, ignoring the crying girl. He spotted Yuna leaning unconscious against the door, a small streamer of blood oozed down her temple.

Blast, if she was dead then everything was scrapped. He didn't think that Soundwave could scan a dead brain, but maybe they could take her head and connect it to device that gave off electricity . . .

She moaned and slowly opened her eyes. She lifted her head and looked at him. Her eyes were dazed as if she didn't know what she was looking at.

He tore out the driver's seat to make room for his whole hand and then reached in. His fingers broke her restraints and slipped easily around her and then he lifted her out. She hung limply from his hand, but she was alive and that was enough.

"We got what we came here." Megatron stood with Yuna in hand. "Radio the others and tell them to return to base."

Soundwave obeyed the order.

* * *

Starscream wanted to scream to the coming stars when he received the order from Soundwave. No, they had the Autobots wounded and pinned down.

"Megatron's orders." Soundwave repeated.

"You can tell him where he can put his orders." Starscream retorted and turned off his radio. Before he could shout out _his _orders, "Finish them". He was shot out of the sky by Skyfire.

* * *

"Thank Primus." Beachcomber muttered relief apparent in his face and frame.

Jazz felt the same way. They were badly wounded and in need of repairs, not to mention they were getting low on energy. He certainly hoped that Ratchet was aboard with tools.

The Decepticons scattered as Aerialbots poured out of Skyfire with guns blazing. Jazz tiredly lowered himself beside Beachcomber and leaned against the smaller bot. "Almost had 'em on the run, ya know."

"Sure, buddy, they were about to scatter like rabbits before they showed up." Beachcomber smiled back.

"Sure hope Tracks and the girls are fine, though."

* * *

"Put . . . her down, Megatron."

Megatron glanced over his shoulder and saw Tracks in his robot-mode weakly on one knee and his gun aimed at his head. The auburn hair girl was at the blonde's side and was trying to wake her.

"Put her . . .down." Tracks repeated.

In his robot-mode, Tracks didn't look much better. His siding was missing where Megatron had ripped the door off, gashes oozed with Energon, and his paintjob was chipped and scratched. The gun shook in his hand and Megatron smiled wickedly.

"I'd worry more about myself if I was you Autobot." Megatron said turning to face him.

In his hand, Yuna was coming to her sense. Her body ached and she felt as if her whole side was one large bruise. Not to mention her head where she banged it against Track's door. She stared at Tracks horrified by his energies and her heart bled when she saw that he bled pink blood.

"No, Tracks, don't." She whimpered, but her voice grew louder. "Please, don't."

She spotted Carly and Ashley clinging to each other not too far away from Tracks. They were all injured because of her. This was all her fault. If she knew that her running from the Decepticons would cause so much pain, she would NEVER have ran away. Let them do what they wanted to her, just leave others alone.

Megatron raised his fearsome cannon.

"NO! NO! Please, don't! Please, DON'T!" She screamed hysterically. Her hands reached out toward the cannon as if she could stop it. "Please, I'll do what you want, just don't hurt them, please!"

"I don't need your willingness to get what I want from you." Megatron said as he powered up the cannon.

Summon, she needed to summon. Valefor and Ifrit did have enough power for her to bring forth. Tracks was backing away and was sidling close to Carly and Ashley to protect them if he could. Ashley was screaming into Carly's arms and chest while the blonde became pale as a sheet and her blue eyes stared down Megatron's cannon.

Yuna screamed as a shot was fired . . .

from Hound's cannon. The missile hit their mark on Megatron's cannon arm. The shot threw him off his balance and he fell carrying the girl with him. His hand opened and she free fell. Her fall was broken by bushes. She sat up, ignoring jolt of aches down her side and crawled out of the bush.

Megatron was on his side, his cannon almost knocked off his arm, but now useless nonetheless. He shoved himself up on his uninjured arm and glared red hot hatred at Hound.

Before anything could happen next, Skyfire and Aerialbots flew over head. Megatron's optics flared till his face was almost bathed in red. He shoved himself to his feet and turned his hellish gaze at Yuna.

Yuna felt it, she felt the scalding weight of rage on her back and she turned to see the fearsome sigh of a Megatron enraged. She froze, fear turned her body into stone.

"We'll be seeing each other again, Yuna." He said her name as if it was a oath and rose up into the sky.

Just like that, both of the Decepticons left.

Yuna could hardly breathe, for that second, she had truly believed that he would have killed her on the spot. She clutched a hand to her heart, feeling it pounding beneath her breast.

She heard someone sigh with deep relief and say, "I can barely stand to see myself."

She turned to see Tracks leaning against a tree that sighed and stirred with his weight. Hound was kneeling beside him checking his injuries. Carly was still holding Ashley who was trembling in her arms. The blonde was stroking her auburn hair and was whispering something to her.

She had caused this. She was the cause, her fault. She wanted to turn and run away into the forest. To leave them alone and let them recover and heal without her around to cause more pain.

"I'm . . .sorry." She croaked.

The two Autobots and the girl looked up at her and stared at her as she knelt on the grass and dirt and leaned forward. Her hair brushed the grass and tears dropped off her nose and onto the soil. "I'm so sorry. I don't have the words to express how hurt I am that it was because of my weakness as a summoner that you were injured protecting me."

"There she goes again." Hound whispered to Tracks. To Yuna, he said, "Yuna, listen, it isn't your fault things turn out like this. It's ours. We should have came up with a better plan and execute it better."

Yuna pushed herself up to look at the Autobot and said, "But you wouldn't have . . .needed a plan if it wasn't . . ."

"We got ourselves involved, Yuna. We got ourselves involved and, trust me, we each knew the risk when we did. We've dealt with the Decepticons for so long, we're always expecting injuries when it comes to them."

Yuna looked at Tracks and the sight of the pink blood hurt her. She got to her feet, but wince when her side protested.

"Are you . . . badly hurt?" Tracks asked her.

"No." A thought occurred to her. "I can help."

"Help?" Hound asked her as she quickly limped to them.

"I can perform white magic." Yuna said with spirit, but that drain away when she saw the blank looks. "You know . . .white magic . . .oh . . .Let me show you."

She stepped over to Carly who was trying to shake off her blurred vision. "Carly, how are you?"

"My heads a little." Carly said touching her temple.

"I can help that." Yuna said as she cast a cure spell.

Carly stared wide eye at the light that surrounded her for a second and then the pain in her head was clearing up. Like a drain was pulled inside her head and the pain was draining away. Her eyes were no longer blurred and the ache in her arm was gone too. "What . . .what did you do?"

"I cast a cure spell." Yuna said feeling better. She could undo her damage.

"Yu . . .Yuna, do me." Ashley held out her cut arm.

Yuna cast another cure spell and Ashley watched her arm heal leaving behind the blood stain on her skin. "Incredible."

"Is that what a summoner does?" Carly asked amazed as she got to her feet. She was very surprised at how well she was able to stand without help. Before, she couldn't have gotten to her feet without throwing up.

"Not really." Yuna replied. "Anybody in Spira can use white magic if they have the talent for magic. I chose to study white magic so I can help others."

"Yuna, do you think you can help Tracks?" Hound asked her.

"And repair my hull?" Tracks said hopefully.

"I'll try." Yuna said heartily.

"Repair yourself first." Hound said quickly. "You have a nasty limp."

"Oh, yes, I forgot." Yuna cast a cure spell on herself.

"How could she forget she's injured?" Tracks asked quietly.

Yuna felt the pain drain away and it felt good to walk without pain. She had enough mana to heal a being as large as Tracks. She walked over to his side and cast the cure spell. His chest glowed, but the gashes did not close up or shrink in anyway. She tried again, again nothing.

"I don't understand." Yuna said trying for the third time at Tracks's missing side.

"Maybe it's different for us." Hound suggested gently. "Sometimes we have to replace pieces of ourselves when we get repaired. We don't produce skin cells like you do."

"I'm sorry." Yuna said bowed to Tracks. "You got hurt on my account and I'm unable to fix the damage."

"Is that the fifth time she's bowed like that?" Tracks asked Hound.

"I think it's more than that." Hound replied.

"Yuna, come here." Tracks said holding out his hand.

Yuna stepped closer and reached out both hands to touch his forefinger. "Yes?"

Tracks gently slipped his hand around her torso and lifted her up. He set her on his shoulder and said, "I need your skirt to help cover up these gashes. I'll die if someone sees me like this."

It took a full three seconds for Yuna to realize that he was making a joke. She laughed and was soon join in with the others. It was a release of tension from a near death experience and fear. Though it was less than forty-five minutes since she had laughed with Carly and Ashley about Spike, it felt like years since she laughed.

"Hey, I hear laughing over that way."

She looked up to see a small, cute, yellow vehicle come through the growth of trees. She heard a whistle from the little vehicle and it said, "Tracks, you look like a crash."

"I am a crash." Tracks bemoaned.

Spike looked at Tracks, but his vision blurred and he wondered when had Tracks added white flowers to his paint job, when it cleared and he saw Yuna in real life for the first time. She had a bright look on her face from what he could see from her perch on Tracks's shoulder.

Hound thought of something. "Yuna, could you help Spike. He hit his head earlier."

"If it's not very serious I can. For serious injuries I would have to know cura and curaga."

Cura? Curaga? His hearing must be going. She's move beautiful in real life than she is in a hologram.

"Oh, Carly, do you see the look on his face?" Ashley whispered to her friend while they watch Tracks lower Yuna to the ground. "He looks like he's seeing Jesus."

Carly made a face and whispered, "He's just got a hit on the head. He might be seeing Jesus for all he knows."

"Alright, but I noticed something. He hasn't rolled up asking about you yet." Ashley reminded. "After we almost die and everything."

Carly ignored her, but watch Yuna heal Spike with a quick cure spell.

"Thanks, Yuna." Spike was happy to be able to move his head without fear of it falling off.

"You're welcome." Yuna said stepping back.

To her shock, a red box like object leapt out of Bumblebee and unfolded itself into a large red machina. "Ratchet on his way to pick us up . . . along with Silverbolt and Slingshot."

All the mechs and Spike and Carly groaned all together as if on cue. Ashley didn't look happy either and Yuna looked around confused. She had thought they wanted this Ratchet to come.

"Primus, just shoot me now. It'll be a mercy killing." Tracks pleaded with Hound. "I can hear him now. 'The wannabe flyer couldn't cut it in the sky'". He mimicked a youthful voice.

"You think that's bad?" Spike asked hand at his brow. He too mimicked the same voice with the same tone, "Always gotta save the humans, the lousy humans always need saving, can't do anything for themselves". And I'm older than him! Shouldn't he respect me as his elder?"

"Why would he? He doesn't even respect any of us and we're millions of years old." Hound grumbled.

"I . . .I thought you wanted Ratchet to come." Yuna asked very confused.

"Oh, we do want him to come." Bumblebee said quickly. "It's just that we want him to leave Slingshot behind."

Oh, it was this Slingshot that was the troublemaker.

"Uh, Spike." Carly said stepping forward to her boyfriend.

"Oh, hi, Carly." Spike said quickly to her and return his gaze to Yuna's face and petite figure.

Carly crossed her arms and said, "Aren't you going to ask me how I am? I mean . . .I almost got shot to death by Me-ga-tron." She pronounced the dreaded name one syllable at a time.

"Glad to see you're okay." Spike said with a grin.

Carly threw her hands in the air and took several steps away to stand beside Ashley who held a "I told you so" look.

A very large white vehicle pushed out of the forest. It was the largest vehicle Yuna had seen yet. It was greeted with hails from the mechs and humans while it stopped and the back opened. Out stepped two more machine. They were both red and white with the bigger one having a white face and the smaller had an orange face. The orange face one didn't look happy and had his arms crossed over his chest.

"What happen to you?" He asked Tracks. "Take a fall?"

Tracks's lips components drew a tight line. "Decepticons shot out my wings during flight."

"Leave the flying to us, Wannabe." The orange face one, Slingshot, she was sure of now, said hiking a thumb at himself.

"Slingshot." The other red and white robot said warningly. He gave him a look that said, "We talked about this, remember?"

Slingshot would have rolled his eyes if he had eyes.

The large white vehicle transformed and it was a large white machina with a red cross on his on his shoulders and his Autobot signia right below the glass window on his chest. He knelt beside Tracks and checked his injuries, except he did it with more precision and confidence than Hound had done. Yuna instantly understood that he was their medic and it made her feel relieved.

"Crash?" Ratchet asked eyeing Tracks's wings.

"Yes, but when can you fix this?" Tracks tapped his chassis.

Ratchet made a long sigh and said, "It'll take some days to repair the damage, but I want to concentrate on your more serious injuries first."

Yuna watch him take some tools from his person and apply them to Tracks. She watched his hands as he expertly inspected and prodded each gash as if checking for infection like a real doctor.

"Oh, great, another human we have to 'protect'." Slingshot said right above her.

She looked up to see Slingshot giving her a most disapproving frown. She stepped back away from his feet, but watched him warily. Well, she should extend the hand of friendship first. She performed the Prayer of Yevon for him and Silverbolt and both machina looked surprised. Why does every time she shows some manners, everyone acts like she grew a second head?

"There she goes again." Hound commented.


End file.
